<p>Sigma, they mean something to some people. I've written about this on my blog. </p>
<p>While I'm not happy that US News ignores student satisfaction and student services, the fact is that there are plenty of people out there who don't question the methodology and see the ranking issue as an important part of the college search. Instead of just saying that the rankings don't matter, I'd rather have a conversation with people about them.</p>
<p>Oh my god... I actually know that kid in the polo team. His dad is so rich and they live back in Malaysia.</p>
<p>sounds like a tool.</p>
<p>Haha, I'll have to tell you how it goes when I finally meet him.</p>
<p>Maybe the extra money to researchers will increase the ranking- according to that article we actually went down a spot in terms of faculty resources and financial resources (2006 numbers, of course).</p>
<p>Well people who choose to go to a school simply because of a ranking are ignorant.</p>
<p>Although I am loathe to weigh in at this stage, I thought I might lend support for what Dean J said. As a partner in a law firm, I have clients who only want their accounts handled by attorneys from particular law schools. Therefore, I often choose to hire associates based on their law schools rather than their grades (for these clients). Most of the time, the client's expectations and assumptions about law schools coincide with what the "'peer review" aspect of the USN&WR rankings say about those institutions. That may be a generational thing as the people calling the shots for the clients are in my age group (50-60) and have a long-standing view of the world (whether correct or otherwise). Therefore, the<br>
"peer assessment' aspect of these rankings does serve a function in the business world--it drives demand for students from particular schools. On the other hand, I greatly discount the "overall" rankings of some schools. For instance, and in my opinion only, the overall rankings of some schools (Wash U and Emory) are greatly overstated and, at least in the business world, these schools carry far less weight than other "overall" lower ranked but higher "peer assessed" schools. Hence, the rankings do serve some purpose for some folks.</p>