<p>People around me suggest to go to the higher ranked school. Is U.S. News college ranking trustful? Would college ranking be real important, espeically to an international student?</p>
<p>You want your future employers to respect what university you graduated from, or at least have knowledge of it. Also, US news ranks to find what they feel are the best colleges, so why not go to the best college you can?</p>
<p>That’s just my opinion on the subject.</p>
<p>I don’t think “trustful” is the right word. More like superficial.</p>
<p>I’m not international, so I can’t say much for you. But my advice is not to take those rankings too seriously. </p>
<p>They give you good guidelines, but they should not dictate which colleges you apply to.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>No, it isn’t really important. The range of college educations out there cannot be represented on a line starting with Harvard and ending with a community college where you use your stats to plot a point on said line; rather, it is a wide and diverse field where the terrain varies greatly and there are many options. College quality cannot be so easily quantified. Further, US News changes its methodology each year to generate a new list to sell more magazines. And many of the variables don’t even make sense. If a college has $500 million and spends $25 million on a new facility, they are penalized for having less “resources.” It’s all a bunch of hogwash.</p>
<p>Thank you, all. I’m now between Centre College in KY and Lewis&Clark in OR. I like Centre’s self-designed major program but I don’t drive(Centre’s transportation system is not very good I guess), while I like L&C’s transportation system(It’s in city) but L&C doesn’t encourage students to major in student-designed major that much. People around me say either “Centre is the better because it’s on the higher rank” or “L&C is better because you can enjoy a city life”. But as you know, Centre is at least 40 ranks higher than L&C. So I’m confused…any advice?</p>
<p>
Actually, I didn’t know. I don’t think most people will know or care what rank each is. Both offer many opportunities, best taken advantage of when you’re happy with your environment and school.</p>
<p>Good luck, my friend. Things will be good for you whichever you choose.</p>
<p>@ BillyMc
Thank you. Your comment kinda made me feel better with my decision!</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, what was your decision?</p>
<p>L&C, although I am not that positive with its academic curriculum.</p>
<p>Well, I hope things work out well for you. You chose a great school.</p>
<p>Employers in Kentucky and nearby states are more likely to be familiar with Centre, and employers in Oregon, Washington, and California are more likely to be familiar with L&C. Employers overseas are not likely to be familiar with either since both are liberal arts colleges and not large universities. </p>
<p>I think some schools try to <em>game</em> their ranking; I don’t know if either Centre or L&C do that. I am surprised by their ranking spread. </p>
<p>Most Centre students are from Kentucky and they don’t have many internationals. I have heard that L&C’s location described as more suburban feeling than urban, if that would make a difference to you. Not sure how often or convenient their bus is.</p>
<p>Isn’t it true, though, that after you get your first job (I don’t mean at McDonalds, I mean a job like in the field you went to college for), college matters a lot less than job experience?</p>
<p>@CCsiteObsessed: Understandable. I’m kinda afraid of racially conservative atmosphere in KY. I like Centre’s academic curriculum - but quite not sure with its living environment.
@SuperCuber: So true. Actually I don’t care about college ranking that much because I will have my own business - and those two are not even the top ranked.</p>
<p>College is only what you make of it.</p>
<p>rankings can act as guidelines, but I wouldn’t take them TOO seriously…
It basically categorizes which colleges people have heard about, so you can just ask around anyways. that’s the whole point of it. prestige. if a college is ranked number 1 and no one’s heard of it, there really is no point lol :)</p>
<p>@stressdouttt/ You are right. That’s why I gave up G - college.</p>
<p>[What</a> College Rankings Really Tell Us : The New Yorker](<a href=“http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_gladwell]What”>The Trouble with College Rankings | The New Yorker)</p>
<p>The USNWR rankings give you, more or less, a ranking of layman prestige. This might translate to a different quality of education in a more general sense (ie, there will probably be more resources and higher quality peers at a #1 school than a #150), but it does little to distinguish among peer schools.</p>