It's nearly college decision time and many families will be looking at the "best college" rankings to help them evaluate their choices this spring. Since 1983, U.S. News & World Report has dominated the college rankings, withstanding criticism from public officials and college leaders. However, a recent Intelligencer Column in New York Magazine anticipates a fundamental shift that is making the rankings less and less relevant.
Fundamentally Flawed College Rankings
Long before this article was published, I've felt that the criteria on which rankings are predicated are fundamentally flawed – and, most disappointingly, not tailored to the diverse interests of applicants. With that in mind, our College Advisors have always tried to offer multiple frameworks for how to assess whether a school is "good."
The first earthquake that rocked the rankings occurred last fall, when a group of the top US law schools, including Yale, Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford, told U.S. News they would no longer participate. Many of the top ranked medical schools followed suit. Then there was the Columbia University whistleblower story – a Columbia statistics professor accused the university of misrepresenting key statistics to U.S. News, and Columbia admitted to inflating data in two categories. The Ivy League great dropped in the U.S. News rankings from 2nd place to 18th.
Education is Not One-Size-Fits-All
Colin Diver is author of Breaking Ranks, about how rankings force colleges to focus on pedigree and prestige rather than education. In a guest column in the New York Times, "Are the U.S. News College Rankings Finally Going to Die?" Diver wrote, "I hope so." He was president of Reed College in the 1990s when the school famously boycotted the U.S. News rankings. Reed subsequently dropped from the top quartile to the bottom quartile. Creative, independent-minded students continue to find their way to the Portland, OR-based campus without the guide.
The problem with "best college" rankings is that it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation, says Diver.
"The genius of American higher education is that it's a bottom-up system that is grown up to meet multiple demands. It features institutions with all kinds of different missions, goals, and characters, and it serves a constituency that has an enormous variety of needs and wants and preferences in terms of what they're looking for in college. So a single template, a single measure, is just impossible." – Colin Diver
I agree. And yet with that said, college rankings are still important to our families, usually in the list generation phase when they are filtering for geography, size and social life. However, the arcane categories in U.S. News like 'average alumni giving' and 'faculty compensation' don't tell you what life is like on campus, whether the students are happy, or if you will enjoy the classes, so we encourage families to think about what matters to them and do their own research. We often introduce applicants to LogicPrep alumni so they can find out firsthand what it's like to be on campus at a particular school, even if they don't have a chance to visit.
Find What Matters To You
A good "reality check" – and something I always recommend to students – is to read the campus newspaper. It will give you a really good sense of what your year is going to be like. By doing so, you can find out about school traditions, clubs, social life, philanthropic activity, trends on campus – and check out the opinion pages where you'll get the real story on campus safety, free speech, and other hot button issues. There are also specialized college guides that can be helpful in narrowing your choices. Ask us to recommend a few.
Finally, for those of you touring colleges this spring, think about what aspects of each university really resonate with you. Those are the criteria that matter when building your list – no matter what the rankings say.
Update: Feb. 27, 2023
Just this morning, Colorado College announced they will withdraw from the U.S. News & World Report "Best College” rankings. As a highly selective Top 30 national liberal arts college, they are the most prominent undergraduate institution to withdraw from the rankings since Reed College in 1995. I would not be surprised to see more undergraduate institutions considering such a move in the coming months, so stay tuned.