Vanguard Rankings

collegehelp
Fri, 02 Mar 2007 09:44:20 +0000

Well, huskem55, there might be a difference in quality between 10 and 20 that is important to a particular applicant. As I said, you have to put the information in perspective. It is useful information that should be considered as part of the school’s overall detailed profile. It would be foolish to ignore it. It would also be foolish to base a decision on a particular ranking alone.

The US News rankings, in particular, have an explicit rationale. They also provide the data that goes into their assessment so you can pick and choose what is important to you.

You could say that, given the basis for the particular ranking, there is even a real (numerical) difference between #10 and #11.

The next question is: “Is the difference between #10 and #11 or #10 and #20 palpable?” Will you actually FEEL the difference? Will your EXPERIENCE be different? This is harder to answer.

But, the problem is not with the rankings. The problem is with the audience that is not able or willing to understand the rankings and use them properly. That is why discussions like this are helpful.

On the other hand, as long as rankings have well established validity, it is not necessary to understand how they are derived. It is enough to know that they agree with other criteria. All you need to know is that the method seems to work.