For some reason, people love numbered lists. It doesn’t even matter what the subject matter is, banal or notable, we’re drawn to lists like the top five ways a moth is drawn to a flame. So when major publications like U.S. News and World Report or Forbes release their lists of the best colleges in America, prospective students and their parents can’t wait to see which colleges out perform the pack.
Though it’s open for debate, I’d say there’s nothing inherently wrong with the ranking frenzy. With over 4,000 different colleges and universities stuffing your mailbox with mountains of self-approbating postcards and booklets, it’s good to seek out an objective voice. (How else would you know which order to throw all that mail away in?)
But there are some problems with college rankings. I’ll humor you by listing the top five.
5.) Many rankings measure input rather than output.
Every publisher has a different methodology for determining a college’s worth in relation to its peers, but you should ask yourself which criteria are actually important to you. Does a college’s endowment, faculty resources, selectivity or their peer reviews mean anything to you? If so, then you’ll love U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges list which is notorious for ranking colleges based on reputation and resources rather than student outcomes. Yes, this is a gross oversimplification, but one discussed fairly frequently among higher ed circles.
The point is that it’s difficult to measure student satisfaction and success with any level of certainty. To its credit, Forbes gives it an effort, but turns to less than reputable sources such as RateMyProfessors.com and Who’s Who in America. So if you’re going to trust a ranking, be sure you know what the criteria are, or you may wind up making a decision based on factors of little importance to you.
4.) There’s no measurable difference between colleges ranked a few places apart.
What’s the difference between Williams and Pomona? Well, Pomona isn’t ranked as highly as oft named number one Williams. So Williams is better, right? Eh…they’re different. For one, they’re on opposite sides of the nation, but their programs and faculty are nuanced in ways that aren’t directly quantifiable.
Rankings perpetuate the myth that a college can be intrinsically better than another just by being a rank above. But the real differences aren’t easily identified in a ranked list; they’re more about the vibe and character of the institution. Now, that’s an ambiguous way to say it, but it demonstrates the importance of the campus visit. So don’t write off colleges that fall below a certain number.
3.) The system can be gamed.
How do you suppose different publishers come by their data when ranking colleges? The colleges provide the information themselves. Now, I want to be very clear when I say I’m not pointing fingers, nor am I going so far as to accuse any college of knowingly supplying falsified facts. But students should be aware that there is a gray area when it comes to assembling representative statistics.
An example of this might be determining selectivity. Colleges are asked to report the number of applications they received and the number of students admitted for the previous year in order to determine how selective a college is. In some cases, it’s left up to the school administrators to decide whether they’ll report only completed apps or completed apps and partially completed apps as well (ones that wouldn’t have qualified for admission anyway based on a lack of required materials). If a college elects to include partial apps in their figure, they’ll appear to be a more selective institution, thereby seeming more prestigious. Get it?
4.) They create unnecessary hyper selectivity among a few schools.
Why do you think schools like Harvard and Princeton are consistently turning down students with a 34 on their ACT and unblemished academic records of excellence? It’s because so many students—who meet the exact same criteria—are all fixated on the same top ten colleges and universities; not all of those “super students” can be admitted. Which leads me to the number one problem with college rankings:
1.) The number one school may not be number one for you.
There are too many variables that distinguish colleges from one another to make them comparable. So, finding the best college is less about finding the highest ranked, and more about finding the best fit. Sure, college rankings do a good job of identifying good programs, but they can’t tell you which college is best suited to your goals, your personality, or your learning style. That requires a little bit of research, both of yourself and the colleges you’re pursuing.
So start with the rankings, but don’t end with them. (Here are some of Centre’s most recent.) And if you’re looking for something that measures colleges’ success without putting them in descending order, try the National Survey for Student Engagement, a good summary of which can be found here.
