| After saying, "I think the U.S. News rankings ought to get a D", Vedder proceeds to use the USNWR rankings to determine the list of schools he will rank. Notice that he only ranks USNWR's top two tiers of schools in each category and leaves out third-tier schools. If a school such as Samford on the Nat Univs. list can move from 118 (USN) to 27 (CCAP), then it stands to reason that some third-tier schools might well move up into the top 100, or top 50. The same is true for the LAC list where Bennington jumped from 106 (USN) to 33 (CCAP).
While imperfect, maybe the CCAP can be improved upon by Vedder or others. At least it's a start. Unfortunately, Forbes has the same motive that USNWR does in putting together these rankings: selling magazines. |