<p>^ I think SoCalDad2 is correct.
US News doesn’t seem to generate rankings that many posters would dismiss as “laughable”. Nor do its positions often whipsaw 10 places or more from year to year.</p>
<p>Compare these patterns to, say, stateuniversity.com. In those rankings, Wellesley College has moved from #20 to #8 in a single year. Harvey Mudd moved from #49 in 2011 to #25 in 2012. What could these colleges have done to improve so much, so fast? And is it credible that Columbia University ranks, at #100, 2 places below the University of Puerto Rico - Mayaquez? This, despite the fact that in the main, the set of top universities generated by stateuniversity.com looks very similar to the set of top universities generated by US News.</p>
<p>The same issues seem to afflict Forbes and WM.</p>
<p>Another thing US News has going for it is that, for the most part (the dumb, alumni giving 5% factor notwithstanding), most of its criteria are at least plausibly related to academic quality. They don’t try to count how many students are wearing Birkenstock sandals. They don’t try to assess “happiness”. They don’t give points for a big ROTC presence. </p>
<p>This is important because, whatever myriad other things college shoppers care about (the weather, diversity, the political atmosphere, nice dorms), they at least give lip service to the notion that the primary mission of colleges is academic. Once you cull out the academically-strongest ~20 schools where you have a realistic shot at admission, it shouldn’t be too hard to winnow it down to 6 or 8 that meet your other personal preferences.</p>