<p>to decide to enroll which school. do i choose according to ranking?</p>
<p>Have you been accepted in several places, and are now trying to decide? Or are you trying to decide where to apply?</p>
<p>Personally, I think rankings are useful to identify potential schools where you might find your intellectual peers. That part’s over for you. </p>
<p>However, at the point of determining which school to attend, you really ought to be visiting and digging much deeper to find out what matters to you and where you think that you would be the happiest and most successful. It’s a process of learning about yourself. Don’t waste the opportunity by leaving the decision to a ranking.</p>
<p>I,m going with “not so important.” Rankings are based on factors that can be manipulated (yield for example). One thing I learned recently, that really opened my eyes about USNWR rankings was how a college earned a regional as opposed to a national ranking. You’d think it was smaller colleges pulling students from a particular region, right? Nope. The difference between regional/national LACs are in the kind of degrees offered. Anyway, once I discovered that, it wasn’t too hard to completely ignore any kind of ranking. I mean, what other nonsensical criteria to into a ranking? </p>
<p>You want intellectual peers? Look at the test scores and GPAs of admitted students. Then pick what you like or which school makes the best fin aid offere.</p>
<p>Vincent, please don’t choose according to ranking. Choose according to what you can afford, where your intended major is strongest, where you’re most excited to attend because the fit (small or large, urban or suburban, close to home or far away, student body vibe) is so good. The rankings can be a helpful tool for telling you which schools are similar. Some of the highest-ranked schools have the best financial aid and professional opportunities after graduation. But you are the individual who has to study there for 4 years, so pick based on which school can do the most for you.</p>
<p>First of all, small differences in ranking are not significant at all. As you go down a ranking list, the larger the segments are that are the same. For example when you take top 10, yes, there is a difference in saying you got a degree from HPY vs #s 8, 9, 10. But the differences between number 100 and 120 or even 150 start to diminish. Also there are schools that are top ranked in certain disciplines but their overall rank is not so high due to their size relative to that tiny department. Getting into that select department could be something widely recognized in a particular field over getting into a more highly ranked school that is not. </p>
<p>But the rankings are something that give you some idea if you have no idea as to what the other two elitism Rs are, such Recognition and Reputation. There are those who don’t know the schools and getting a feel for those three R’s is not easy, with the Ratings something one can take a glance at a list and see. </p>
<p>But for someone who has other things that are important on their lists, those things fade. Paying for a school is something of paramount importance. Things like the atmosphere and environment and courses available are important. You can go to a school with great 3 Rs and it doesn’t meet what you want in a college.</p>
<p>There are many colleges to choose from (over 3,000?). Many of them are good and many have high acceptance rates. If you limit yourself only to the top ranked schools you are doing yourself a disservice. Find a college you like with a program you can succeed in. Just because a school is top ranked doesn’t mean you will fit in there or excel there.</p>
<p>Sometimes they are important and sometimes they are not. If you are choosing between a nationally recognized university with dozens of academic departments with deep bench strength on its faculty vs. a regional university with 3-4 strong departments but minimal offerings in other areas besides “service” faculty (i.e. nobody majors in English but there are three adjunct faculty to teach the required Gen Ed courses in literature and composition) then you will have a very different academic experience at the higher rated U than at the lower one.</p>
<p>But to choose number 17 over 19 if you actually prefer number 19- that’s crazy.</p>
<p>OK, I’m guessing that you’re making your final decisions about where to ENROLL - you did use that term. I missed it.</p>
<p>I’m also guessing that all of the places you applied were good enough to make your short list. Surely you considered things like rank, average SAT score, cost, and other important things when you decided where to apply.</p>
<p>I don’t think rank matters much now that you’re down to deciding among those you have already determined are “good enough”. Now, just pick the best one! Which one “feels” right. Visit your top picks if you haven’t already, make a good financial decision. I don’t think rank alone is any more important than any other deciding factor at this point. As one other poster pointed out, those ranks are often manipulated anyway, and also the way they’re determined might not be the way that’s most important to you. </p>
<p>I have a colleague that prefers students from a college that may not be “ranked” very high for a particular field over those from some schools that have top ranking. He said they typically have more practical, hands on experience because of some unique opportunities they have in their particular region, and plus, he said the personalities that typically come out of that school are a better “fit” for his organization.</p>
<p>That’s why I said, go where it feels right for you. What’s important to you, which programs are important and available, what do you want to get out of it, what are the teachers and students like, etc.?</p>
<p>Your ranking is important, based on the factors you value. Someone else’s ranking is unimportant. You might want to use some of the data USNWR uses in creating their ranking to create your own, but you should create your ranking based only on what you think is important, which could very much include COA and other factors not considered by USNWR.</p>
<p>One would hope that you only applied to schools that met your enrollment criteria. To be honest, IMHO if “ranking” was important, this should have been done prior to actually applying. I would hope that all of your acceptances meet your enrollment criteria. Pick the school that YOU rank the highest, not what some other group ranks highest. In. Other words…don’t fret about USNews.</p>
<p>An example…</p>
<p>U Iowa is ranked 74.
Iowa State is ranked 101.</p>
<p>Iowa is therefore much better than Iowa State.</p>
<p>Dig a little deeper and you find…median ACT score is exactly the same for each school. 25%-75% ACT range is exactly the same. Iowa State has a slightly higher Frosh retention rate. </p>
<p>U Iowa has a higher ranked business program than Iowa State. Yet Iowa State reports a slightly higher placement rate and slightly higher starting average salary range for business majors. </p>
<p>They each just happen to excel in different things. Choose one that you like.</p>
<p>If all of the following factors are equal or you really dont care about them: the cost of education, location, weather , size of school, number of required classes for graduation, ease of moving from one major to another, makeup of student body, % of students involved in Greek Societies, ease of getting late night food on campus, etc, etc. …
then, sure, pick the highest ranking school. </p>
<p>But you would be wise to consider any factors that will impact YOUR happiness over the next 4 years while you are in college…</p>