Waning influence of US News, rankings in general & only 10% look at specific rank

[Anonymous]

https://www.luminafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Give-the-kids-some-credit.pdf

Apparently only 10% of students look at a specific rank while searching for colleges and the influence of US News & rankings in general is waning. Is college admissions culture shifting to prioritizing fit above rank because of admissions difficulty, shifting methodologies, etc.?

[Anonymous]

No

[Anonymous]

US News ranking methodology jumped the shark when it pumped up publics by increasing the weight of Pell.

When such a factor isn't relevant to a particular family looking at colleges, the ranking stops reflecting factors that matter to them.

[Anonymous]

People know that USNWR rankings are very narrowly focused on social mobility so not relevant to many applicants. Glad to see people are starting to use their own priorities to evaluate schools and not follow set rankings like USNWR.

[Anonymous]

Only something like 11% of the US News rank is based on social mobility. But it’s a good thing if students prioritize fit above rank!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only something like 11% of the US News rank is based on social mobility. But it’s a good thing if students prioritize fit above rank!

This. And even that is focused on student outcomes so it isn’t irrelevant to the quality of the student experience in any event.

As much as people here complain about the rankings, you would think they would actually take 10 minutes to look at the methodology at some point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:US News ranking methodology jumped the shark when it pumped up publics by increasing the weight of Pell.

When such a factor isn't relevant to a particular family looking at colleges, the ranking stops reflecting factors that matter to them.

This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only something like 11% of the US News rank is based on social mobility. But it’s a good thing if students prioritize fit above rank!

Social Mobility is 16% of the score (Pell Performance, Pell Grad rate, and Borrower debt). When the rankings are likely determined by small differences at the top of the list 16% can be quite significant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.luminafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Give-the-kids-some-credit.pdf

Apparently only 10% of students look at a specific rank while searching for colleges and the influence of US News & rankings in general is waning. Is college admissions culture shifting to prioritizing fit above rank because of admissions difficulty, shifting methodologies, etc.?

It has always been a small subset who were concerned about rankings as anything other than a curiosity and it is still that way. Outside of certain cultural groups where these things are important it is only in the UMC to UC bubble where they come into play. For the vast majority of the country "Harvard" or any other elite school has no real significance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only something like 11% of the US News rank is based on social mobility. But it’s a good thing if students prioritize fit above rank!

Social Mobility is 16% of the score (Pell Performance, Pell Grad rate, and Borrower debt). When the rankings are likely determined by small differences at the top of the list 16% can be quite significant.

+1
And it isn't the presence of that alone, it's that in addition to the removal and weighting less of "income" factors like test scores, yield, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.luminafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Give-the-kids-some-credit.pdf

Apparently only 10% of students look at a specific rank while searching for colleges and the influence of US News & rankings in general is waning. Is college admissions culture shifting to prioritizing fit above rank because of admissions difficulty, shifting methodologies, etc.?

10%? Don't believe it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.luminafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Give-the-kids-some-credit.pdf

Apparently only 10% of students look at a specific rank while searching for colleges and the influence of US News & rankings in general is waning. Is college admissions culture shifting to prioritizing fit above rank because of admissions difficulty, shifting methodologies, etc.?

10%? Don't believe it.

I can. Who is choosing Rutgers over Wake Forest because the former is now ranked higher than the latter? No one with sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People know that USNWR rankings are very narrowly focused on social mobility so not relevant to many applicants. Glad to see people are starting to use their own priorities to evaluate schools and not follow set rankings like USNWR.

Agree. Told my senior the same. Once they started adding in variables that had little to do with what matters to the student experience (class size, graduation rates, etc) then we started looking elsewhere in our decision making.

[Anonymous]

If someone could compile a list of school heavy on social mobility, that would be a good list of school to avoid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.luminafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Give-the-kids-some-credit.pdf

Apparently only 10% of students look at a specific rank while searching for colleges and the influence of US News & rankings in general is waning. Is college admissions culture shifting to prioritizing fit above rank because of admissions difficulty, shifting methodologies, etc.?

10%? Don't believe it.

I can. Who is choosing Rutgers over Wake Forest because the former is now ranked higher than the latter? No one with sense.

The jaded Wake Forest alum is back! 🤣