<p>Insidelane, I agree with you. The problem is a circular argument. This may have already been covered, but (I just got an update on this thread and haven’t had time to go through the other responses) supposedly Forbes is the only magazine to trust ratings. US News can’t be trusted on any fronts, and the colleges and the guidance counselors will tell you that. Andrew Ferguson, the reporter who wrote “Crazy U” knows the statistician who revived the dying magazine, and he began the ratings bonanza. At first none of the colleges wanted to participate, so he told them then he would calculate his own ranking on them (to that effect). However, once the colleges saw other colleges actively participating, I guess they felt they had to “cheat” and “fudge” numbers. Emory isn’t the only one lying. This year GWU got “punished” (so to speak) by the US News who removed them because they were caught tinkering with numbers and they are suspended until the next edition. </p>
<p>It is all so ludicrous to me, because if you go to a site like **************.com, the kids tell a totally different story about each university. I would trust that first and other sites where students give input. There are many other colleges cheating and just haven’t gotten caught yet. It’s the same as the kids who cheat - so many others do too, but the schools either close their eyes, or they haven’t gotten caught either. </p>
<p>A mom just told me that it doesn’t end after college admissions (where so many kids have packagers/have their essays written/doctor their extracurriculars, etc. that some kids at “top name university” email their homework to their parents to do for them. When parents help their kids get into colleges that they should not be in to begin with, the cheating perpetuates and the cycle never stops. </p>
<p>It harms everyone. I will never forget the classic Harvard post years ago about a kid who cheated his way through med school. The person could not name the student, but he did post “if you ever need a neurosurgeon, don’t go to the one on X street and Y avenue in Z city.” That about said it all…</p>