Top 10 versus Top 25

newmassdad
Tue, 19 May 2009 19:35:18 +0000

Let’s not be so quick to diss the rankings. Because the rankings are so sensitive to things like faculty resources and admitted student background (both directly through SAT score and indirectly through selectivity), the rankings do give us some useful information.

For example, while the difference between two closely ranked schools may not be meaningful, you would find a noticeable difference difference between a top 5 school and one in the 20s, both in faculty and student body. I’ve worked at both and could see the difference among faculty, to use my own experience.

You will also find significant resource differences.

Whether these differences matter to any particular student is a different question.