<p>What do you guys think of U.S News's college rankings? Accurate, or just a bunch of nonsense?</p>
<p>From its inception to 2007 its been nonsense, so I'm thinking pretty accurate this year.</p>
<p>Are these new rankings/How long have these ones been out? I think Vanderbilt was ranked anywhere from 17 to 20 last time I saw them, what is it now?</p>
<p>There is never going to be a consensus or perfect ranking of colleges and US News does have some flawed methodologies. With that being said, it does give a very general idea of a college's resources, selectively, and reputation.</p>
<p>Go to this website, and it'll show you US News's rankings. USNews.com:</a> America's Best Colleges 2008: National Universities: Top Schools</p>
<p>Hey, let's all raise USNews' revenue!</p>
<p>Woohoo! we're number 1! and by 1 I mean 5!</p>
<p>U.S. News ain't bad. Some schools ought to be ranked higher, and some seem to only be ranked high out of tradition. Also, U.S. News seems to never move schools from a specific range of ranks (i.e. 17 one year, 20 the next, 18 the next, 17 the next, on and on). The biggest mover was USC; which moved from the 40s just a few years ago, to the high 20s now.</p>
<p>So if that's the case, what do you guys turn to when looking for a very accurate listing of college rankings?</p>
<p>It's an inherently imperfect and controversial task, so USNWR's methodology will always attract criticism. But they've been doing this since the early '80s, have honed their criteria over the years, and for using objective meassures, they're about as good as it gets. No one else has devised a system with more apparent face validity.</p>
<p>"So if that's the case, what do you guys turn to when looking for a very accurate listing of college rankings?"</p>
<p>If all you are interested in is "ranking" stick with USNWR. Flawed as their calculations may be, at least they are using a standardized formula to get there so, in theory, anyone can replicate their work if they want to.</p>
<p>Now if you are interested in the actual learning environment, or actual job placement, or actual professional success of graduates once they get out into the world, or actual success in life in general, or predicted number of cars at the cemetery at the end of that life, you are going to have to do the research on your own because each of us have our own criteria for judgment in real life categories.</p>
<p>happymomof1, how does one find all of the information you listed? Actual learning environment, actual job placement, etc. If I were to visit each college's website looking for those things, it'd take a very long time to attain all of that information, considering there are hundreds of colleges to choose from. Do you know of any source which would help me to obtain those details about a college, without taking more than just a few months to learn enough to be able to select a college which fits my needs? I already did the basics, such as location, cost, size, etc.</p>
<p>There's obviously a lot of negativity toward the US News list...but I think its value as a resource is underestimated. A lot of schools with strong academic reputations are relatively unknown among high school juniors looking at colleges, and helps almost publicize the academic elite schools that aren't in a certain athletics conference.</p>
<p>Posters here often joke about people who think UPENN is a state school, but some aspiring college applicants may be under the same assumption without US News' guide...however imperfect its rankings may be, it serves a purpose.</p>
<p>The U.S. News rankings are good to get a general idea of how a college does statistically, but you'll also be able to rule out a lot of schools based on what you're looking for in terms of social scene.</p>