What does ScholarEdge Think of US News and World Report’s Rankings?

It’s that time of year again when U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) ranks the top universities in the United States. To virtually no one’s surprise, it once again came down to a battle between Harvard and Princeton for the number one slot. These two universities typically fight it out to be number one in the magazine, and this year it happened to be Princeton.

We know what happens next: Princeton and Harvard, and every other college, tell the world that they don’t care about these rankings and the rankings have little value in the college search.

Baloney.

I understand that there are very strong arguments to be made that there are virtually no prestige differences between going to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, or Chicago. However, let me be a contrarian here and argue that these rankings do make a difference, people do pay attention to them, and that no matter what the colleges say, the USNWR rankings are incredibly important.

First of all, unlike purchasing a car or finding a handyman, there’s no really good rating/review system to look at. In fact, in my 15 years of experience working as a private professional college counselor, most parents wind up choosing schools based largely upon schools that they’ve heard of either because a given school is in the Ivy League or because – honestly – they recognize the schools from Saturday football games and scoreboards. It is the very rare parent and student that gets excited about schools that most students have ever heard of, such as the University of Rochester, Pomona College, or Harvey Mudd, even though these are three of the most elite institutions in the United States.

What I like about USNWR is that these relatively unknown schools to the general public are ranked highly in the magazine. We can quibble about the methodology used by the magazine. I agree that there is a very fair and rational argument to be made that the criteria used by the magazine does not encompass all the different parts of what makes for a very good college or university. However, parents pay attention to these rankings, employers pay very close attention to these rankings, and -- this is critical – the colleges care deeply about how they’re rated.

One thing I will also add is that for the students that I work with, they typically will choose schools to apply to that fall within the top 25 schools in USNWR. Some will base their decisions purely upon the magazine, but most use it simply as one of many different information resources to come to those conclusions. I think it is not only perfectly fine, but healthy.

I’m a big believer in more information rather than less in helping to guide parents and students in choosing the right college. If a college is going to ask a family to spend $50,000, $60,000, or $70,000 a year for what really amounts to an annual nine-month program of study, then it is entirely rational and reasonable – indeed, required – that those parents know exactly what their money is getting them.

ScholarEdge loves the U.S. News & World Report rankings, even if I don’t always agree with who should be number one. As a Harvard alum, I’m never happy to see Princeton take the number one slot, even though the Tigers are entirely deserving of that honor and distinction.