US News My Fit Custom College Ranking

Applying to College
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In throes of finalizing a shortlisted colleges, I came across US News My Fit Custom College Ranking Scores. Are they any useful while developing college lists. Any feedback from folks who used them and if/how this helps while preparing/finalizing college lists? Thanks

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I’m one that feels that everything USNWR does regarding college rankings is completely specious. How do you quantify the subjective? IF you’re going to use it, dig into the methodology so you know what you’re ranking.

I prefer a spreadsheet based on the IPEDS data called DIY College Rankings. Pay the $50. It makes searching and ranking SO much easier.

What is FAR more important is that you know what to rank. Do you care about class size? Who teaches labs and discussions? Weather? Sports? Size? You name it.

Good luck!

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I started this thread on search engines for colleges. Perhaps it might be useful?

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I went to the USNWR page, but they don’t let you see the methodology until you pay.

DIY College Rankings takes all the IPEDS data and formats it into a spreadsheet where you can rank things you deem important. Unlike the USNWR methodology that ranks unrankable, unreliable things like “institutional reputation” (determined by asking one person at a university, usually a dean, to name 6 peer institutions…it’s a bogus, self perpetuating metric), all the IPEDS data is numerical.

For example, when I was vetting engineering programs for my son, I could set up a search that limited schools by size, graduation rate, percentage of full time students, percent full time faculty, number of TAs relative to faculty and number of engineering classes offered. Then I could rank in ascending or descending order any IPEDS data I wanted to compare. Crazy powerful.

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