<p>This is a tough topic to discuss: There some 3,000 colleges in the US, most saying they are the “Best” for your college education. As a competitive culture, we use tools to evaluate and compare …and look to “Experts” to rank and define everything we might purchase…which includes college. Like it or not, people need these tools to make such an important decision that, next to a home purchase, can be the most expensive investment a family can make. This has created a questionable recruiting culture where some schools have fudged their admissions data, reporting false numbers to US News and World Report in order to “Game” their rankings. Even when admission and correction is proffered by a school, for some schools (i.e. Iona College), it resulted in a big drop in rankings until accurate info was provided. For major schools (Emery) there was no effect on the ranking, so we might assume some bias and favoritism for the bigger, elite schools.
Look at any college site on-line and it is a colorful marketing tool to “Sell” the school to potential buyers…like anything else in our society…
And, like anything in our society, we have many choices and often seek help to make a good choice. College is no different. What country in the world has 3,000 schools (big, small, public, private, specialized, etc.) to choose from? College books and USN&WR serve a need and a demand.</p>
<p>There are many fine schools, Colgate is one of them…but what makes Colgate better than (or not as good as) a Bucknell? Lafayette? Lehigh? Holy Cross? Davidson? How does one compare a top, small private college to a large, well financed State school? A guide book can talk about details, but we all want to know how does A compare to B. At least USN&WR puts schools in different categories to reflect their comparative size and resources.</p>
<p>Selecting a school is really about which school is best for you and not which is best according to some ranking methodology. First, a student must know their stats and which schools they are an academic fit for: you don’t apply to the Ivies (or Patriot League) with low SATs and a 2.5 GPA…but there are many schools where such stats are accepted. Then, there is cost: what can a family afford? how much aid will be given? how much of a loan can be taken on? Then there is the fit: does the student love the school? love the location? the feeling? or does a kid have an attraction to a school based on reputation or sports fame?</p>
<p>So, do we need rankings to help start the process of considering the 3,000 schools? as flawed as they may be, we do. Do we base a decision on the rankings? I would hope not; selecting a college is very personal and so many factors have to be considered.</p>