<p>Crimsonstained</p>
<p>I suspect we’re largely in agreement on USNWR (though reading my prior post, I may have come off as being more down on it than I actually am). </p>
<p>Basically, if you look at the list, and you generally agree with the relative Ranking of the schools that you know well, you’ll probably also agree with the Rankings of the schools you don’t know at all. However, YMMV. So, this gives you an easy starting point for evaluating unknown schools (emphasis on starting point).</p>
<p>For example, Let’s say that I mostly agree with the Rankings for the top 25 schools, but I know nothing about Northwestern (what cave have I been living in!!!). I can see that NU is ranked #12, which puts it within a few spots of schools like Duke, JHU, Wash U. Fair enough. </p>
<p>Of course, if I disagree with the ranking for the schools I know, then the whole list is practically useless to me.</p>