<p>I think the study supports what boils down to typical human behavior...especially when money is not an issue. Put a list of rankings in front of some folks - give the list some credibility - and it starts driving decisions.
I bought the book. So did lots of parents around here. Some use it as a reference guide to get started on the search...others as a bible. I know kids who had a stated goal of getting into the top 25 or top 10. They apply to ALL the Ivies and a few other top 25s. No worries about fit or even major - some ask "what major should I list to give me the best shot of getting in? " I'd like to think that the schools could see through this shallow approach - but most of these students got into at least one of their target schools.<br>
IMO- It's all about prestige and bragging rights - and less about quality.
How about the impact of football rankings though? Oh...that's another thread.</p>
<p>hawkette:</p>
<p>Papa said it better than I could. Now, I would agree that someone who applies to Colgate/Dartmouth/Williams and also to Chicago/Columbia has "fit" issues, but attending the higher ranked school does not mean that fit did not factor into the choice. Perhaps the higher ranked school was a better fit all along, but we have no way of knowing. And, that is the crux of why I usually comment on your posts which tend towads 'either/or'. Sometimes they can be both. :)</p>
<p>I am the first to admit that rankings have effect. I don't know if I would be able to be so "pure" if my son were HPY material. It's not just the rankings, though they do have a halo effect of sorts. I don't know anyone who goes to those schools who does not love it and there is definitely an aura that goes around those names. Some schools, though up there, are not fits for everyone. I think MIT falls into this category. There are many kids who have a tough time there. Close friends of ours who are alums are not so hot about having their kids apply their for fit reasons. The same with Cornell, less so but still with Dartmouth, UPenn, Brown, Columbia. Definitely with JHU, CMU, Wesleyan, Chicago. Stanford, Amherst, Williams seem to have high satisfaction and few regrets among acceptees. Swarthmore less so. </p>
<p>Some kids do fine regardless where they go, but fit can affect others. It's not worth the prestige and is a lot of heartache, not to mention waste of money to have a child miserable and bomb at a top rated school. This also goes to bargain priced schools. THere was a poster whose son had a shot at RPI, a school that was a reach ratings wise for him, and with a $15K grant to boot. Well, RPI is another one of those schools that are not a good fit for kids and has a significant fall out rate due to that. You aren't saving a cent when that happens whether it is your state U or a high rated school that your student cannot tolerate. It's easy to say that it's just tough luck if the kid doesn't have the moxie to adjust but having lived through this, I can tell you that the tough part extends to mom and dad too.</p>
<p>as an aside, it could be interesting to re-run the correlations without the obvious name brands: HYP. Then, we might be able to ascertain if rank really is that much of a factor, i.e., how many turn down Colgate for #16? Or, Bucknell for Colgate. And the like.</p>
<p>I would surmise that the strength of the corralation would be a lot lower.</p>
<p>toneranger</p>
<p>I can't speak about your son's decision, but we always told our son that money was not an issue--we had the full price in an educational trust--and he picked a school that gave substantial merit $$. He did admit that he couldn't be sure the $$ had NO influence on him. It certainly did make him feel wanted, but he tried to make a "pure" pick based on best fit. If he had not thought it was as good a school academically as his higher ranked options, I don't think he'd have made that choice.</p>
<p>
[quote]
In fact, I think that is one of their primary conclusions is that rank is a powerful factor in how some students make their college choices and has the potential to crowd out other considerations.
[/quote]
This is an inference by the authors for which the study provides NO PROOF.
They found a CORRELATION. Albeit a remarkably good one (see Fig. 1, which somewhat addresses the issue of #14 v. #16 - the preference is linear over the rank differences).</p>
<p>All the data came from what, one ultra preppie northeastern college and their pool of applicants. They probably prefer Land Rovers over Tahoes too.</p>
<p>Hear, hear.</p>