<p>What are US News Rankings based on? Is it based on academics or just how many applicants apply there, get in, and graduate from there?</p>
<p>The secret formula:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2014/09/08/best-colleges-ranking-criteria-and-weights”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2014/09/08/best-colleges-ranking-criteria-and-weights</a></p>
<p>US News rankings are based based specifically on selling advertising, and more generally on attracting readers/viewers. Their rankings are a feature article like any other, and they change their formula annually because no one would bother to read a story with the headline, “99% of Colleges Are Pretty Much Unchanged From Last Year.”</p>
<p>In other words, you’ll get much better understanding of schools if you look at things like the middle 50% grades and test scores of admitted applicants, 4- and 6-year graduation rates, % of graduates who go on to earn advanced degrees, &c. Things like “spending per pupil,” and survey-based “academic reputation,” and “selectivity,” are really just so much fluff.</p>
<p>Thanks @MrMom62</p>
<p>Thanks @FCCDAD </p>
<p>I tend to like the US News rankings as a shortcut to finding comparable schools, not as the end-all and be-all of picking a school. It’s a tool that should be used properly. Yes, do what @FCCDAD says, but once you find one school you like, the US News rankings are a great way to find other schools you may never have heard of that are similar in quality. Just go up and down about 20 rankings and you have a ready made list of 40 schools to work with. Two years ago, my freshman daughter’s school was not even on the radar, but similar ranked schools were. The US News rankings were just one tool we used to help find the school she eventually wound up at.</p>
<p>I think MrMom62 has pretty much hit it on the head. Rankings are a cheap source of information. If you generally agree with USNWR on schools you know about, you’ll likely agree with them on similarly ranked schools that you haven’t yet looked into. Of course, YMMV</p>
<p>The best college rankings are the ones you make yourself. Make a list of questions that matter to you. Assign them point values based on their importance to you. Ask every school you are interested in those questions, or find the answers on their websites. Tally the scores, and voila! a customized ranking.</p>
<p>The USNews numbers are the same whether you’re an aspiring Division I football player seeking to major in business, or an aspiring novelist who wants an open curriculum and extracurricular opportunities to edit a major literary magazine.</p>
<p>The numbers you make yourself will tell you much more about the “best” schools.</p>
<p>Again, there are 1000s of schools in the U.S. U.S news ranking is an easy way to find out about more as MrMom62 detailed. It shouldn’t be used in deciding which school to go to though.</p>