USNWR 2015 Rankings Slide

<p>I know that the USNWR rankings aren't gospel to many, but I'm curious as to what rationale or issue(s) might have contributed to such a precipitous drop in rank year to year for Holy Cross? 2014 NLA rank was 25; 2015 NLA rank is 34... One of the larger movements of any school in this year's USNWR list. HC is on my son's short list (currently a junior) and we plan to visit the campus next Summer. Any insights will be most appreciated.</p>

<p>Over the past 25 years Holy Cross has been ranked anywhere from in the teens to up to 40 on USNWR. This is because USNWR constantly tweaks the methodology and some schools are aggressively trying to game the rankings as many articles have shown over the years. This is all about selling magazines and guidebooks so they must change it up every year or people could just use the same guide year in and year out.</p>

<p>I understand there are fluxiations. But 9 slots is a lot for one year. Few upper end schools experienced that level of movement. If just a function of changing methodology, wondering why this impacted HC so disproportionately. My feeling is that there must be a reason or reasons driving the movement; identifying these would allow for evaluating the merit of those drivers. Anyone have any ideas on this?</p>

<p>SoylentGreen,</p>

<p>Many people have thought like this at some point in the college process. However, if we are being honest and with all due respect, it is a kind of silly way to think. I mean Wall Street isn’t saying…“hey, Holy Cross dropped nine ranks, be sure not to hire any Holy Cross graduates this year.” Again, many of us including myself have thought this way, but it isn’t realistic. Pretty much all rankings will do this including Forbes and Princeton Review as 1980collegegrad pointed out. They do this in order to help give positive ranking and publicity to other top schools (they want good rankings too) so it’s almost like a cycle in which HC may climb a bit fall a bit climb a bit again, ect. Rankings like Forbes or USNWR actually benefit by continuously cycling different schools in the top positions. Now this isn’t to say that rankings are not trustworthy or aren’t helpful as they tend to be pretty consistent in where they rank schools (like it would be very substantial to see a school ranked number 9 one year fall to 76 or whatever). They can certainly provide a good general idea of how prestigious a certain university may be. People know Holy Cross well enough…is it as well known as Stanford or BC or Georgetown for example, certainly not. However we have a relatively high job placement and acceptance to graduate school so graduates tend to do pretty well and we will definitely challenge you academically at Holy Cross. More important things to consider when making the college decision: location, academic programs, can prospective student see himself/herself there, and of course affordability. Come visit Holy Cross. It’s a great school with a lot to offer!</p>

<p>Hope I helped!</p>

My guess is that there are plenty of schools in the Top 50 who are working hard to raise their numbers. (gaming the system is not unheard of) And since USNWR rankings are pretty meaningless when it comes to the quality of education, I would definitely not worry about a “slide” by Holy Cross. Just means some other school is working hard at some meaningless metric that will raise it up.

I appreciate the responses and generally agree; it’s not THAT alarming a one year drop and rankings are flawed to one degree or another. But on the other hand… Holy Cross has slipped not just in the 2015 rankings, but across the past few years. It’s difficult not to see it as a trend.

Specific to ‘metrics being manipulated’ by various competing schools; again I agree that this goes on in depth I’m sure. But that was what I was trying to get at with the OP: Specifically which measure(s) is Holy Cross slipping at or, if you prefer, being surpassed at by other schools? Something I’ve wondered, for example, is whether or not the switch to test optional admissions factors in at all? I don’t even know when the school officially went to this policy.

FWIW, I’m not asking these questions in any attempt to wax negative about Holy Cross… But because the school remains one of Junior S’s short list targets. Clearly, something or things is driving the slide in HC’s ranking. We will be visiting HC this summer and really looking forward to seeing it. USNWR et all are relatively minor factors among many in making decisions as to where S will apply, but I do want to understand what dynamics and trends are at work here. Any specific insights on this from those in the know? Many thanks.

I think looking at other sources will offset the USNWR ranking issue. Take a look at Forbes, Kiplinger and PR selectivity index. All 3 of these publications are well respected and unbiased. They all rank HC very high and look at more factors than USNWR which is easily manipulated.