<p>I think the most helpful way of ranking is to produce multiple rankings each with one metric. People can choose the one they care about, or a combination of a few or all. The metrics that CAN be used for ranking are endowment, endowment/student, admit rate, yield, retention, class size, faculty/student ratio, percentage of faculty members with advanced degrees, percentage of students on financial aid, number of students on financial aid, average amount of grant for boarders, average grant for day students, percentage of students who are minority, average SSAT scores, average SAT/ACT scores, matriculation rates of HYPMS, Ivies + MS, top 25 universities/top 15 LACs, top 50 universities/top 25 LACs, distance to a major airport, distance from the town center… All data will not be available for each school but consider what’s available is what the school wants you to know (go figure). You now have a quick easy way to draw a shortlist based on stats. You then go visit and evaluate those non rankable factors and find your fit. Obviously, some people will never even look at rankings, but for others some types of rankings can be helpful in certain situations.</p>
<p>Note: I am not trying to avoid the motive of “feeling good” behind the ranking practice, which is actually a major driver for rankings. It’s just there’s not much to talk about in that respect. I’d rather focus on the practical use of rankings.</p>