<p>All students are biased toward their particular school, but that doesn’t mean that they will tell those who are interested exactly what they want to hear. Go to any college or university and ask a student about the pros and cons of their particular school and they will probably give you their honest experience coming from both sides of the fence (the positives and negatives). </p>
<p>Once again, the downside to ALL ranking systems is that they tend to generalize and assume. Students look for different criteria in where they want to attend school. The ranking systems you mention highlight only a few of many different areas a school can be ranked for in the order of what company sees as being important. Prestige is relative for the most part outside of the Ivy Leagues, of course. Hiring rates…not really sure how those can be accurately cross-compared. For example, how do you compare a private school with 2,000 students in a large city with no graduate degree programs to a large school, like UGA, with multiple graduate level programs located in a college town. Of course hiring rates will be higher for the smaller school (no grad programs means greater likelihood to go straight into the job market). I would be very surprised if these ranking systems you speak of are able to take everything into consideration. Salaries, like the other two, are relative. I would have to see exactly where the ranking system was getting it’s information and how it is comparing the schools on a level playing field. </p>
<p>Finally, you’re assuming that all students want the same thing when applying to college: a job upon graduation with a good salary. Some students want great study abroad programs, others want research opportunities, and some are even interested in graduating with minimum debt (some meaning most!). While the career center is an important aspect of any college experience, it will ultimately come down to the student to make the best use of resources that a school has to offer in order to make themselves more marketable. In saying that, UGA has plenty of resources available to make that happen (shameless plug). The data might not be biased, but it’s also data that might not even be applicable to what a student is looking for, which then renders rankings systems effective to only a certain degree.</p>