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I assume that’s a rhetorical question, since I’ve made it fairly evident what I think of rankings. It’s a bit like ranking houses. Sure, a 6-bedroom house with a spacious yard and a jacuzzi in La Jolla may be ranked higher than a cabin in Asheville, but that doesn’t mean someone couldn’t be much happier at the latter.</p>
<p>Your response: That’s personal preference and doesn’t make a college better or stronger. </p>
<p>My response: Of course not, but it makes a college better for that person, which is all that really matters when one is comparing peer schools. There is a much greater difference between Brown and Point Park than between Brown and UCSD, and I think the relative quality can be figured out with very little effort. </p>
<p>USNWR is first and foremost a magazine/print ranking, which regrettably means it will never fully develop my idea of an ideal ranking – a database for all schools and the ability to create individualized rankings based on personal preferences. [url=<a href=“http://graduate-school.phds.org/]PhDs.org[/url”>http://graduate-school.phds.org/]PhDs.org[/url</a>] did something similar with the NRC rankings.</p>
<p>People are already forced to do some research, thankfully. USNWR doesn’t lump different types of schools together, so students have to do their own legwork. Which is better, Wesleyan or Emory? Villanova or Northeastern? </p>
<p>Just as there is no correct answer to whether Williams or Berkeley is better, I don’t think there is an answer to whether Berkeley or Johns Hopkins is better. It’s all personal preference in the end, provided schools are roughly comparable (in the same tier, as Alexandre would say).</p>