<p>Reed stopped a few years ago, and their reputation keeps getting better and better.
But basically, the rankings that USNews provide are really detrimental to future students. Instead of picking the school best for the student, more and more kids are basing their decisions off of USNews rankings.
I literally know a girl who, although she much prefers Dartmouth, is choosing to go to Duke this year just because it does slightly better in the rankings (1 spot this year, and, in general, Dartmouth is considered a better school than Duke).</p>
<p>Basically, USNews is changing the whole college culture. There was always a sort of vague hierarchy of colleges, but the "this school is a few spots higher than this school this year so I'll go there" stuff is getting crazy.
I guess USNews works to the benefit of some schools. Schools that manipulate rankings, such as WashU and Penn, have really improved their reputations because of it.
But does it help the students?</p>
<p>I think the rankings are crap. But they (especially USNWR) won't die until the Ivy League pulls out of it. Nothing will really change until then.</p>
<p>Take a look at what's happened to Reed in the rankings, though, since they pulled out of it. They've dropped to halfway down the second page when really their quality is among top twenty LACs. While they have managed to do quite well, imagine where they'd be if their almighty ranking lived up to their actual college...among the likes of Pomona, Williams, Amherst, etc. possibly? Who knows?</p>
<p>Duke vs Dartmouth..... EXTREME hair splitting.... </p>
<p>And if you want the ranking to die, you don't need the entire Ivy League to pull out, just Harvard. If it doesn't appear at (or very near) spot 1, the ranking will quickly lose its credibility.</p>
<p>Really, it'd be horrible if there wasn't some kind of ranking system (even if flawed). Before I researched college, I literally had no idea about any of them. Basically, Harvard + Yale = good, CC = bad, that's it. I would have absolutely no idea where to start looking.</p>
<p>If you don't like the rankings, don't use them. It's not like they're hurting anything other than your ego. Plenty of people find them useful for just getting a general idea of where colleges stand and finding a starting point for the college search.</p>
<p>It’s not that rankings are “bad”, it’s just that they often convey a strict, hierarchy of colleges, one that is hugely misleading to potential college students/parents. </p>
<p>I also think (with little proof) that US News makes up data. From the “peer assessment” system, to allowing schools to “meet” to raise their rankings ….<em>Cough</em> Chicago <em>Cough</em>… to “manual adjustments”, much of what US News does is quite shady. </p>
<p>On the other hand, the schools listed in the top 100 or so are generally considered the “best” schools, so having a list available for people is also a good thing.</p>
<p>Well, the problem is that it creates a biased view for people who are new to the entire college selection system. Ranking schools reinforces the already stereotypical "A school is good, B school is bad mentality". </p>
<p>It may be more agreeable if this research was done by some non-profit organization, but everyone knows that USNews is just in it for the money.</p>
<p>^ Numerous factors influence whether people think a college is "good." And what produces an unbiased view of what a "good" college is anyway? </p>
<p>"Ranking schools reinforces the already stereotypical "A school is good, B school is bad mentality"."</p>
<p>Practically everything reinforces that; just the pre-existing stereotypes that are expressed in the media and by other people do that. And the truth is, Harvard just IS better in comparison to some random CC in terms of academics. And if there isn't some form of blank = good and blank = bad (relatively), how is anyone supposed to choose a college if they care about academics?</p>
<p>There are some people who rigidly believe that a school ranked at 5 is so much better than one ranked at 6, but why are you blaming the USNews for conclusions that people draw themselves?</p>
<p>I realize this is an older thread but felt the need to comment. The US News very clearly explains the criteria used for its rankings. I'm not sure why its the US News' fault for parents putting too much emphasis on a one point difference in ranking.</p>
<p>s-snack - The US News ranking does play a positive role because it gives parents and students access to a great deal of information that they would not have otherwise. </p>
<p>Also, if your best example of US News gone bad is someone choosing Duke over Dartmouth...when the schools are pretty much on par in every way and Duke is ranked only slightly higher... its not a convincing argument.</p>
<p>And its not just US News - you'll find that WSJ, THES, and even Collegeboard SAT scores and National Merit Scholarships all correlate very highly with the US News rankings.</p>
<p>I, for one, felt US News was a great resource when I applied to colleges some years ago.</p>
<p>I'd get rid of them if it was up to me. I'm going to a top 40 LAC, but I really don't think the rankings helped me at all. Alot of the data they used wasn't even accurate.</p>
<p>I like being able to see how schools stack up numbers wise. The rankings are flawed, like any rankings. But frankly a large portion of my list is influenced by seeing how competative the schools are via USN, PR, or whatever other ranking/information list.</p>
<p>I would know about where MSU, UM, Northwestern, and the Ivies stood without seeing any rankings. However, Stanford is just considered 'good' here, and without seeing at least acceptance rates and test scores I wouldn't know just how competative it was. And that's Stanford. The LAC's I'm looking at, I wouldn't have a clue unless I'm seeing some numbers.</p>
<p>The straight up rankings part, not great, but having the numbers there - very helpful in finding schools.</p>
<p>What data of their's is innaccurate...if they used data that wasn't accurate, I'd assume the schools that are getting ranked would call them out on it.</p>