“Where are you applying to college?” is perhaps the most asked question of high school seniors. And over the course of the school year, this seemingly never ending refrain morphs into an even more targeted question; “Where are you going to college?”
But we rarely ask a student how they decide where to apply to college, which is arguably the most crucial part of the college going process. After all, the exercise of generating a list of best fit colleges is where this process truly starts; it sets in motion the rest of the application process. As such, it deserves dedicated time for reflection and intentional research and is where the counsel of a LogicPrep College Advisor can be pivotal!
A Flawed College Rankings System
A commonly tapped resource in the quest for pinpointing such colleges is U.S. News & World Report’s (USNWR) ubiquitous college rankings, specifically the annual “Best Colleges” list. However, upon closer scrutiny, we can see that upwards of 51% of what is measured here has absolutely no bearing on an undergraduate student’s college experience or long-term success.
Ponder the arbitrary nature of Academic Reputation, measured via a subjective “Peer to Peer” survey using a 1-5 likert scale where top administrators make a largely subjective ruling about another institution’s programs.
Or what about the over indulgence in weighing fixed statistics like average standardized test scores? Though impressive in their own right, these have nothing to do with a college’s influence or impact on students’ undergraduate education - they are simply a fixed data point.
In fact, some of these criteria are prone to inversely affect a student’s experience. For example, faculty pay accounts for 6% of total ranking score, but faculty often make the most money at Research 1 institutions, where job performance is in large part measured by their ability to publish research, leaving precious little bandwidth with which to teach undergraduates. Cue the need for more part time and adjunct faculty.
These sorts of faulty indicators are at best misleading, and at worst, a product of a closed loop system that maintains a desired homeostasis at the top. Some programs - namely Harvard and Yale’s law schools, Colorado College, and Reed College - have chosen to pull out of the rankings game altogether after citing issues with methodology and manipulative practices.
Nevertheless, the “best colleges” list remains an influential resource that millions of people tend to reference each year, an easy barometer to turn to when trying to assess quality.
So, What Other Insights Should Students and Families Consider?
Singular rankings are a start.
Graduation Rates, Retention Rates, Graduate Performance & Outcomes, Student to Professor Ratio, and Financial Resources per Student are all potentially meaningful indicators that are included in USNWR’s “best college” rankings. Notice that if we isolate any one of these factors, rankings shift significantly. Big Future, College Navigator, College Scorecard and the Common Data Set are other helpful sources that parse out specific data in helpful ways.
Yet, even when focusing on one particular factor, we must think critically. For instance, it’s no wonder that graduates from tech schools maintain overall higher starting salaries than those universities which include lower paying professions. (I’ll never forget learning the difference between correlation and causation in my Systematic Inquiry class as an undergraduate!)
Knowing that student engagement and performance while in college continues to be the number one factor in a graduate’s future success should serve as a gentle reminder to applicants, and the professionals that help guide them, that investing in our students’ personal growth is paramount.
The following quote is one I gleaned years ago from a favorite read of mine, Where You Go is Not Who You’ll Be, by Frank Bruni:
““...the nature of a student’s college experience- the work that he or she puts into it, the skills that he or she picks up, the self-examination that’s undertaken, the resourcefulness that’s honed- matters more than the name of the institution attended.””
Ultimately, rankings - even those that focus on a single criteria or dimension - can only tell us so much. Are they a good place to begin? Sure- as long as students understand the contextual relevance of what’s being measured. The rest of the whittling process requires more personal discernment. Campus visits, admissions sponsored information sessions- either in person or virtually- and spending time researching specific college’s programs can all help students delve deeper into the specifics that attract them - or not - to a certain place.
The Best Fit for You
All other things equal, maybe your learning style is particularly conducive to Northeastern University’s co-op program, or perhaps you love the idea of living in an off the grid yurt village through St. Lawrence University’s Adirondack Semester (yes, please!!) Or, maybe the award winning food at Bowdoin College seals the deal.
Our College Advisors help students determine how to effectively assess and evaluate potential best fit colleges, which in turn helps them strengthen their why - a driving factor in the application process. From there we can get to the exciting decision of where.