With US News Being Challenged by Top Schools, Does it Make More Sense to Combine Rankings?

[Anonymous]

Since US News is potentially being undermined by unhappy universities that dislike US News' system, is shifting to a more balanced approach a better representation of where colleges stand? For example, using something like this which was previously shared to avoid over-reliance on one source:

[Anonymous]

This is pretty sensible, having many sources. Definitely better than Columbia at 18 on US News.

[Anonymous]

No, the schools dislike all of the rankings. The others just don't get enough eyeballs for them to actually complain about!
Unfortunately for those outlets, they are hardly part of the conversation.

[Anonymous]

Ranking college makes no sense at all. What is the point?

[Anonymous]

Can we also add a column for Anonymous Annie's DCUM rankings? There are so many random people and groups who get their rankings out there but that one anonymous person's rankings seem especially valid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, the schools dislike all of the rankings. The others just don't get enough eyeballs for them to actually complain about!
Unfortunately for those outlets, they are hardly part of the conversation.

At the very least, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Niche definitely get lots of eyeballs. Anytime you google rankings Niche is always one of the first to pop up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ranking college makes no sense at all. What is the point?

Coming from a different country, rankings have been useful in understanding the college landscape. Of course they're not meant to be the only consideration, but they help give a general sense of where things stand. I never would have known, for example, that Rice is a very good university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ranking college makes no sense at all. What is the point?

This. Figure out what is important to you and look at the data from College Navigator. Then research colleges with something like Fiske or Princeton Review + college websites If you can't handle that and need something simpler, use the NY Times "make your own ranking" tool.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/03/27/opinion/build-your-own-college-rankings.html?unlocked_article_code=7QcKMa_PJyez4f94h0Ojo8-jXT1Pb2JgZNuAETM8cBZps3k1jsiiHXjt4jQX3QQxDiLpnDD4_lmQLj9Rhs1cQgSGjr-wKSf299BYhr9zCAfLzhtcO23oCwox2WOgS-TF2nRoAMGPfMxe1wUD1aemJJ-SlJNRF7fCJhxN2j_7IMLM9yInoxtzfKEMeMLEiGnAWSBo5MgHWziuXFzFG6H_SvRxla9K0svH2YdfIoUOvVc80qurCfellVDWxgWHWHUcnswyjIAvcNfw80WohVsgEiYRZdw1hFlve-0jxCieGFOCmIp73xZuGlWI_cili5Kdk60NwOHjwMVtH7i4F3lUdQKi8s267p247-7VqK6ImsHJzWNDrGc2D0g&smid=url-share

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ranking college makes no sense at all. What is the point?

Coming from a different country, rankings have been useful in understanding the college landscape. Of course they're not meant to be the only consideration, but they help give a general sense of where things stand. I never would have known, for example, that Rice is a very good university.

+1 in my country we only knew a few American schools like MIT, Harvard, Caltech, Duke, Stanford, and a few others. There are many more great universities that we didn’t know about until coming here.

[Anonymous]

Combining rankings that use very different and complex methodologies in equal proportions with no way to understand what the combined methodology is that results?

When the rankings themselves are of dubious informative value standing alone?

Yeah, sounds like a great idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ranking college makes no sense at all. What is the point?

Coming from a different country, rankings have been useful in understanding the college landscape. Of course they're not meant to be the only consideration, but they help give a general sense of where things stand. I never would have known, for example, that Rice is a very good university.

But there are many other very good universities not on the lists you are limiting yourself to, and that fact that there is a list is making you think the education form Rice is better than a school on a different list or ranked lower, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ranking college makes no sense at all. What is the point?

Coming from a different country, rankings have been useful in understanding the college landscape. Of course they're not meant to be the only consideration, but they help give a general sense of where things stand. I never would have known, for example, that Rice is a very good university.

+1 in my country we only knew a few American schools like MIT, Harvard, Caltech, Duke, Stanford, and a few others. There are many more great universities that we didn’t know about until coming here.

So are all the rankings obsessed posters on here immigrants? They rely on the rankings to learn about schools they don’t hear about in movies or overseas? I never understood the obsession with USNWR, but this makes more sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since US News is potentially being undermined by unhappy universities that dislike US News' system, is shifting to a more balanced approach a better representation of where colleges stand? For example, using something like this which was previously shared to avoid over-reliance on one source:

Yes, absolutely

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ranking college makes no sense at all. What is the point?

Coming from a different country, rankings have been useful in understanding the college landscape. Of course they're not meant to be the only consideration, but they help give a general sense of where things stand. I never would have known, for example, that Rice is a very good university.

+1 in my country we only knew a few American schools like MIT, Harvard, Caltech, Duke, Stanford, and a few others. There are many more great universities that we didn’t know about until coming here.

So are all the rankings obsessed posters on here immigrants? They rely on the rankings to learn about schools they don’t hear about in movies or overseas? I never understood the obsession with USNWR, but this makes more sense.

So, you Whities know the intricate details of all colleges, their multiple characteristics, pros and cons, etc. and are able to recall all that whenever you need that info? Impressive!

For pennies a day, for a few months during the college application period (say a year), we have multiple college ranking services that give us well researched lists that we can cross reference, and pick and choose from. What's wrong with that? I realize some of the factors that these ranking services use are nothing sort of BS. Not that difficult to filter them out from a pre-defined list vs. building your own..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ranking college makes no sense at all. What is the point?

Coming from a different country, rankings have been useful in understanding the college landscape. Of course they're not meant to be the only consideration, but they help give a general sense of where things stand. I never would have known, for example, that Rice is a very good university.

But there are many other very good universities not on the lists you are limiting yourself to, and that fact that there is a list is making you think the education form Rice is better than a school on a different list or ranked lower, etc.

Can you name a few?