<p>^ I completely agree that graduate program rankings are only one useful starting point for inquiry, and then only for Ph.D.-granting institutions. And it’s true that a majority of undergrads change their major at least once, so it’s a mistake to “put all your eggs in one basket,” so to speak, and choose a school for its strength in a single department.</p>
<p>On the other hand, these rankings really can help you weed out some schools that may have strong reputations overall but may be weak in particular fields you are strongly interested in. They can also be helpful in pointing you in the direction of schools that have superior academic strength across-the-board. That’s really a very small number of schools, as it turns out; and perhaps surprisingly to some on CC, they’re not all Ivies or other top privates. </p>
<p>But I’d take all rankings and recommendations, including Ruggs and Fiske, with a huge grain of salt. At best these resources are the beginning of an inquiry, not the end. Cross-correlations among a variety of rankings and recommendations may be somewhat more reliable. But at the end of the day if you’re going to do this right, it takes some diligent inquiry. Use the rankings and recommendation to develop an initial list of possible schools in a field you may be interested in. See who’s on the faculty at each school, what do they teach, what are their credentials and academic bona fides? What’s NOT taught at school A that is taught at other schools reputed to be strong in the field? Are there gaps in the curriculum or in major research specialties within the field, and are there exceptional strengths in some areas? What’s the student-faculty ratio within the department, and what are class sizes like (since, after all, you may end up taking a third to half your classes within a single department)? Are there particular faculty members in the department whose work is especially interesting to you, and if so, do they teach and advise undergrads? How many classes in the department are taught by grad students, how many by adjuncts or visitors, and how many by tenured or tenure-track faculty? Where do students in the department end up; how many go on to earn Ph.D.s, and just as importantly, where (on the theory that a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford is not the same as a Ph.D. in physics from Florida State)? Make your own side-by-side comparisons of what appear to be the top schools in the field with the schools you realistically have a chance of attending, and see how your own reaches, matches, and safeties stack up against the cream of the crop. Then start talking to real people, especially students and faculty members at the schools you visit, and gather their observations and impressions and see how they stack up against your own research. Then do the same thing in several other fields of possible interest to you. It’s a ton of work and at the end of the day your research may be somewhat inconclusive, especially insofar as you’ll find there are weaknesses at every school. But you’ll learn a lot in the process about a number of academic disciplines, and about a number of schools. You’ll make a far better informed decision than the thousands of kids mindlessly chasing after US News rankings or other superficial indicia of “prestige.” And you’ll start college far better prepared to tackle your intended major—whether it ends up being what you stick with, or not.</p>