Clemson--Gaming US News Ranking

hoedown
Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:40:37 +0000

I have it on good authority that the gaming of the numbers regarding class size is something that is fairly commonly done



I don’t know about class size, but I know some institutions do fudge numbers. I was told this, to my face, by a colleague at an institution that I respect and admire. And if it’s happening there, well, I guess I don’t know what to believe any more. In their case, it was partly a lack of data (it wasn’t collected in a way that fit the USNews parameters) and in crafting a number that would meet USNews requirements, they came up with something that is probably more flattering than the truth. In any event, it’s not comparable to other campuses–despite the fact that this is exactly what USNews does with it.

I have to say that I am now more careful not to assume small differences in USNews-reported numbers reflect true differences between institutions.