<p>So it seems there are countless rankings out there, with a few main ones, and many smaller ones. Since people nowadays are putting so much weight into these rankings, I think it's crucial that the rankings also get ranked. Sounds fun? </p>
<p>Please compare all the rankings you know, pick one, and explain why that one is better/less misleading/more appropriate than all the rest.</p>
<p>If you cannot name very many off the top of your head, feel free to describe what you feel a good ranking system should include.</p>
<p>(1) US News - data driven, objective, valid, wide variety of criteria, but lacks rankings in specific majors except business and engineering
(2) Gourman - based on a variety of criteria, provides rankings in specific majors, seems valid, but doesn't provide the actual data and is 10 years old and focuses on universities, not LACs
(3) Rugg's - provides lists of schools that are strong in various majors by selectivity and size, not actually a ranking but useful, validity hard to determine but is a good starting point, includes LAC's as well as universities
(4) Revealed Preference - shows win ratios among schools with cross-admits, useful for determining a "pecking order" ranking
(5) Baccalaureate Origins of PhDs - a bit dated but interesting peice of information, need to careful how to interpret the meaning of PhD production, should take into account size of school and whether the schools sens many students to Law and Medicine and Business schools
(6) NRC rankings - of graduate programs by scholarly and PhD student production, probably corresponds to undergraduate quality, too
(7) Princeton Review - ratings based on elusive but important criteria such as faculty accessibility, quality of life, and so on, as well as selectivity and financial aid, shows overlap schools, useful information</p>
<p>I don't do rankings as such, and barely regard them. But I like the revealed preference methodology (which I would like to see applied to a newer, more comprehensive data set) as a way to resolve all the various trade-offs that actual admitted applicants face when they have to resolve the issue of where to enroll. </p>
<p>For an eclectic guide to a tiered, nonranked list of colleges, see </p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/437362-looking-good-college.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/437362-looking-good-college.html</a> </p>
<p>in this forum.</p>