Everyone is welcome. I actually like the rankings for many reasons but I firmly believe that they are absolute trash for alignment to the headline “Best Colleges in the US”. This ranking is the most egregious example of “make sure that we develop something that keeps the top stable so people won’t completely dismiss it but then creates controversy and thus a vehicle to drive clicks. It is a masterpiece for that mission.
A full 70% of the ranking has nothing to do with the quality of the school but rather is very heavily influenced by the state in which a school is located. All of these schools are in high population states with at least one very high paying job sector. This being the single biggest driver for 70% of the weighting is “sus” as kids would say today.
While IMO these ratings are worthless as ranking for “Best Colleges in the US” I also believe that they are both very bad for college admissions in some ways while at the same time hopefully opening some eyes to alternatives.
They are very bad in that they reinforce the “Ivy or bust” mentality for some groups given the results. On the positive side I think that they can be very valuable for “typical” kids and families trying to navigate the college admissions process.
Babson and Bentley are great schools for the right kids, my D has several friends there right now, they love it and I know that they will do great.
UC Merced does amazing things for kids from the Central Valley.
SJSU is a hidden gem for anyone OOS trying to break into tech in the valley but a hard admit for in state CS majors. It also does great for health care. I have many close friends who teach there (full professor to adjunct) and none of them would ever call it a “best school”.
UC Davis is an excellent alternative to the UCB and UCLA hunger games.
But none of these schools are remotely anywhere near being the “best schools” in terms of entering student achievement, resources, etc.