<p>The rankings systems are a dull knife. They are for curiosity seekers and others obsessed with such trivia. Yes, school pride and personal pride all weigh in on that as well.</p>
<p>This thread is a repeat of about 100 others like it. </p>
<p>Merit aid is not intrinsically evil. But I also challenge the notion of needs blind admissions. Many schools pretend to play that game but in reality, they are looking at who needs money and who can stroke a check. There are very sneaky ways to figure that out, some of them by the school and school district you come from. Zip codes tell a lot as well. </p>
<p>I have been a proponent of balance in financial and merit aid. Attracting top students is a valid goal/objective. But not at any cost. Then there are the social issues of whether a school has a mission to admit URM’s, or low income people in their historical MSA or elsewhere, sometimes dipping down pretty low in the class ranks or SAT scores to accomplish that “diversity” goal. Its laudatory on one level, but unfair on another. The middle class kid who is an excellent student but not in the “elite ranks”, and who may need financial aid, particularly if they are white females, often have a harder time with admissions than others. That is just the plain facts, whether acknowledged by schools or not…its fact. </p>
<p>College admissions…and thus selectivity rankings, and thus overall rankings, are fraught with all sorts of problems, agendas, quirks, mistakes, guesses, “projects”, balance of equities, budgetary concerns, on and on. Its not an exact or objective science. And through it all schools have different mission statements: serving a varied community.</p>
<p>Are you magically a different person if you go to WashU or Northwestern or Ohio State? Your experiences may be varied, but in the end, aren’t you really the same person? For some its about being able to get admitted to medical or law school or getting that I Banking job (before the New World Order happened). </p>
<p>I can tell you this much, I am watching the goings on in Washington (and Detroit) a whole lot closer than I am the USNWR rankings.</p>