USNews Peer Assessment

johnwesley
Sun, 21 Aug 2005 08:56:34 +0000

The peer assessment ranking is the reptillian brain of the USNews poll; it hasn’t changed in 20 years, and, in fact, was the original germ of the poll in the first place. The fact that the peer assessment numbers have been so static (and so infinitesimaly close) over the years is yet another reminder of why the poll has become so complicated over the years: without the bells and whistles that get tweeked every year, the editors would have less control over the results, the rankings would never change, and the magazine would sell fewer copies.