Every year at this time parents anxiously await the results of the US News and World report annual rankings of colleges and universities. The rankings are compiled with an incredible amount of provable fact based statistics and are then coupled with soft data such as peer reviews of other institutions of higher learning, faculty ratings etc. . These rankings are often filled with controversy: some of which is “ranking envy”, while other concerns are related to the ways schools can and do things to game the system to improve their overall ranking.
So why all the hubbub?
Well, there are over 3500 four year schools and colleges in the US from which a student may choose to apply. The family needs some basis to narrow down that number and one of the ways to do it is to look at the rankings and then use the myriad of data available to try to figure out which school the student will have the best chance for admission. So the better the student performs, the target schools for the family will also rise relative to the rankings. Let’s say the list of schools that a student/family desires to attend/apply becomes defined by the rankings. They will need to sift through a complex matrix of data sets to determine their student’s chances for admission. Some of the criteria are hard facts (GPS, rank, SAT, rigor of curriculum) and there are additional criteria that look at soft (but highly important at some highly ranked schools) admission attributes including the personal statement/essay, recommendations and extracurricular activities.
So now the focus for college admission has been whittled down to a list of options based on ranking, and what might come next could be cost, or geography or the size of the school etc. So for data gathering and filtering, rankings can be a tremendous asset in college selection. However, this methodology of generating a college list is significantly flawed. Its basis is completely off the mark because it does not take into account the most important aspect of college consideration: what school is the best fit for my particular student?
Parents may feel proud that their child has been offered admission to a highly ranked school and the reasons are many: social status, living their dreams through their child’s accomplishments, assuming that attendance at a highly ranked school will automatically translate into a lucrative future, etc. As Lee Corso might say “Not so fast my friends…”
As educational consultants one of the most important services we provide is that we drive the college selection process based on the student’s passions and aspirations. We take all of the same data described above and (in our practice) use personality and career assessment tools to determine the best possible fit based on the student’s potential and not the possible parental infatuation with a school’s ranking.
Importantly, we have visited the schools on the list we generate, we’ve met with students, faculty and school administrators. We apply this knowledge in the context of the student’s personality type, career aspirations and his or her “numbers” and then choose the list of best fit schools. So while at times, a number of highly ranked schools appear on the list, there may be few or none on others. When you focus on the best fit for a student the US News rank of a school has little to no correlation with the actual match.
Rankings are a useful tool, but nothing replaces a thorough assessment of all the student’s attributes culminating in their school selection based on where they will thrive by optimizing their experiences at the school they attend to achieve their life goals and passions.
What do you think about the US News rankings?
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