US News & World Report Ranking

Plainsman
Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:26:03 +0000

When those rankings first came out in the early 80s, Oberlin was in the Top Five. So it had a rather stellar rep at one point. Something changed in how ranking information was collected. By the 90s, Oberlin was out of the Top 10. I fail to see what has really happened that has led to what appears to be a continuing slide, or what Oberlin is doing about it, if they care. And I have to assume the college cares or they would not continue to participate in the survey. The college has slipped four places since my D2 was an applicant in the fall of 2008.

But how much stock should anyone put in the USNWR rankings? Who or what made this mediocre magazine the bible of college rankings that everyone must believe and put their faith? By what authority?

When I was in college in the 70s, U.S. News and World Report was referred to in every one of my circles as “Useless News and World Distort” and that was BEFORE they came up with the idea to create college rankings. A few years later, a mag that was about to go the way of the dinosaur comes up with this gimmick and now it is the world’s authority?

That they won’t take into account that Oberlin’s 4-year grad rate is distorted by the 5-year double degree program is but one piece of evidence that an accurate assessment is not being conducted. That they take into account how much money a college is spending on buildings and faculty salaries is another piece that strikes me wrong. That they don’t take into account Oberlin’s size in comparison to other LACs is another piece. Oberlin has to fill a class almost twice the size of comparable LACs in New England. Only Wesleyan is close to Oberlin’s size. What would Oberlin’s selectivity be like if the college only had to fill half the number of current seats? With 6,000+ applicants (more than most New England LACs)? And it’s funny how some schools that admit a higher percentage of applicants than Oberlin --and have fewer seats to fill, too-- are ranked higher.

Perhaps the people running Oberlin will come to their senses and start ignoring USNWR like Reed does. It certainly hasn’t hurt Reed’s popularity. Either that or demand USNWR do a better job of assessing Oberlin College.