Do College Rankings Matter?

You probably heard that the new USNews College Rankings came out recently. Should you care? Do they matter? Well, yes and no--and depends who you are. Yes because the website is a good place to find certain data in aggregate--such as incoming class standardized test scores, graduation rate, class size, and peer review-- about many US colleges. Prospective students can use these criteria as part of their overall personal evaluation when deciding which colleges to put on their application list. No because the exact ranking of these schools given by this one report is not that important. For one thing, there has been a lot of discussion recently about how much of this data is self-reported by the schools (e.g. class size) and therefore not entirely reliable (at least to such specificity). And the very idea of ranking schools is rather outdated and should not matter in developing your personal application list. Should you be any less excited to be admitted to Columbia University this year when it’s ranked #18 than last year when it ranked #2? Not if it’s the right school for you. Do your own homework.Visit schools virtually and in person. Talk to current students and faculty if you can. Look at a range of data sources and criteria that are important to you.

For whom do college rankings really matter? The colleges themselves. To Deans of Admission and other administrators. Because colleges know that higher rankings mean higher status. They also determine the students who will apply. More students means more competition, lower acceptance rates and more money for the school. So while colleges really care about rankings, YOU don't have to.