<p>Ranking without a context is useless. Different categories have different rankings. For example, for Computer Engineering, I would go for Caltech, UIUC, CMU. For Law I would go for Harvard, Yale. For Accounting, I would go for UT, UIUC, not Harvard or U Penn…For doing STEM cell research, I would go to UW Madison. For Analytical Chemistry, I will go to UNC or UT. For going into International relations, I would go to Harvard, Stanford or G-Town…etc, etc.
For kids who are yet to decide what to do with their lives, yeah, you may trust the published ranking for general directions. And, as mentioned by others, the ranking is only directionally correct at best.</p>