Composite Ranking of Computer Science schools

1NJParent
Sat, 26 Dec 2020 01:40:28 +0000

The problems with rankings are as numurous as the number of these rankings. The size of the department is just one of them. Smaller size often mean the school has to be selective in what fields/areas it wants to emphasize/specialize. Caltech, for example, choose not to specialize in NLP (Natural Language Processing) or HCI (Human Computer Interaction). So for students who want to study in one of these fields, Caltech isn’t a choice (certainly not a good choice). But it more than makes up for it by the depth in the fields it does specialize. It also has a top-notch quantum computing track that few other schools even offer (let alone to their undergraduate students). The smaller size also gives it the advantage in its ability to meet the demand for all CS courses by all of its students without waitlisting and prioritization. Most of its larger peers simply can’t match. In the current enviroment where the demand for such courses overwhelmingly exceeds supply, this is a very significant advantage.

Another example of erroneous results from rankings is in the area of post-graduation salaries. First of all, they are mostly based on voluntary survey results. Those who choose to respond tend to be the one who are relatively happy with their offers. What they choose to report often lack consistency (base? +bonus? +other incentives? etc.) Moreover, the graduates who are potentially the highest earners from the CS department are almost universally going to grad schools to specialize further in some areas of AI, and they aren’t in the surveys.

Even if one ignors all the numerous errors and shortcomings in rankings, there’s still a fundamental problem with rankings. There’re so many factors that affect the quality of education and these factors are different and their relative importance is different for different applicant. So how can all this complexity be distilled down to a single number, the position of a college in the rankings? It can’t.