US News & World Report Ranking

dave72
Tue, 21 Aug 2012 15:43:47 +0000

The Forbes ranking is based on extremely dubious data. Just as an example: 15% of the rank is based on “Salary of Alumni from Payscale.com.” As a professor at Oberlin for 35 years, I don’t believe I know a single alum whose salary is included in that database (which focuses on corporations). 10% of the ranking is based on “Listings of Alumni in Who’s Who in America”–again, a data source unreflective of the many, many Oberlin alums who are teachers and social workers and musicians and scientists not represented in “Who’s Who.” This is a ranking system invented by the editors of Forbes, a conservative, business-oriented magazine. It’s no wonder that it’s not in sync with Oberlin.