How much should I care about US News Rankings?

<p>you all are mentioning ‘top tier’ as being the top 20…what is the consensus regarding schools like University of Miami and USC that are more in the 35-55 range? Are these too low compared to Harvard, Yale, Columbia, etc. to be considered top tier, and is the overall academic experience and value of degree going to be far less at the 35-55 schools?</p>