<p>The fact that rankings are reported consistently throughout wikipedia is the result of a group of wikipedians who have pressed hard for their inclusion and created structures (like the rankings infobox) to reinforce their views. In my opinion, this is the result of a confused application of Wikipedia’s neutrality and notability policies; rankings are seen as objective by those who don’t understand how they are developed, and famous rankings are seen as particularly legitimate, so including the same famous rankings consistently across wikipedia pages of the colleges is seen as supporting both policies. In any case, it has nothing to do with popular opinions or the opinions of alumni about rankings, it has to do with a small number of Wikipedia editors.</p>