<p>
Academics are concerned with academic quality - nothing more, nothing less. Most universities have good reputations because they provide sound educations. Additionally, professors are biased toward universities with scholars with whose work they’re familiar, and top scholars are more often than not affiliated with top universities. </p>
<p>I’ve never understood why graduate rankings exist. Undergraduates change their majors so often they’re not very useful, and they’re often based on factors irrelevant for them anyway. Graduate students have such specialized interests that one-size-fits-all rankings are laughable. What’s the point other than to give universities something to brag about on their websites? People in programs like Middle Eastern studies and marine biology get by perfectly fine without rankings; why it would be such a terrible thing to do the same for chemistry or English, I haven’t the faintest idea.</p>