Do US News Rankings Have any Impact on Admissions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dartmouth will be less affected than Vanderbilt, Wash. U. and even Chicago.

Dartmouth in an Ivy, and the Ivy brand is way too strong globally. It's located in the wealthiest and most populous region of the US (Northeast) and will always attract wealthy students.

Dartmouth is now officially the lowest ranked Ivy

[Anonymous]

Its just a ranking, and one ranking at that. It all depends on what you are looking for in a school.

[Anonymous]

I think for many people, USNWR is a way to figure out what some good schools are. As immigrants, I know it is used as a general guideline to explore schools. I have an undergrad from overseas, a STEM masters and an MBA from a top 3 program in th US. Only during my MBA did I even come to know about SLACs, Dartmouth or Brown. I had never heard of these schools before. We sent our kids to private schools and learnt more about US colleges. However, many in our immigrant community use USNWR to create a list. I know kids who don't want to apply to WashU this year because it is not a top 20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think for many people, USNWR is a way to figure out what some good schools are. As immigrants, I know it is used as a general guideline to explore schools. I have an undergrad from overseas, a STEM masters and an MBA from a top 3 program in th US. Only during my MBA did I even come to know about SLACs, Dartmouth or Brown. I had never heard of these schools before. We sent our kids to private schools and learnt more about US colleges. However, many in our immigrant community use USNWR to create a list. I know kids who don't want to apply to WashU this year because it is not a top 20.

If a kid is not going to apply to a school simply because it's not a top 20 on USNWR this year, than that kid is intellectually lazy.

[Anonymous]

There is no difference between top 20 or top 25 or top 30. It's quite arbitrary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think for many people, USNWR is a way to figure out what some good schools are. As immigrants, I know it is used as a general guideline to explore schools. I have an undergrad from overseas, a STEM masters and an MBA from a top 3 program in th US. Only during my MBA did I even come to know about SLACs, Dartmouth or Brown. I had never heard of these schools before. We sent our kids to private schools and learnt more about US colleges. However, many in our immigrant community use USNWR to create a list. I know kids who don't want to apply to WashU this year because it is not a top 20.

If a kid is not going to apply to a school simply because it's not a top 20 on USNWR this year, than that kid is intellectually lazy.

In which case...the vast majority of kids are intellectually lazy. They did an anonymous poll of Columbia students (prior to their rankings controversy) and 85% said they were at Columbia mainly because it was a top-rated school and that was the most important factor in choosing the school. I bet they would get the same results at nearly all the top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think for many people, USNWR is a way to figure out what some good schools are. As immigrants, I know it is used as a general guideline to explore schools. I have an undergrad from overseas, a STEM masters and an MBA from a top 3 program in th US. Only during my MBA did I even come to know about SLACs, Dartmouth or Brown. I had never heard of these schools before. We sent our kids to private schools and learnt more about US colleges. However, many in our immigrant community use USNWR to create a list. I know kids who don't want to apply to WashU this year because it is not a top 20.

If a kid is not going to apply to a school simply because it's not a top 20 on USNWR this year, than that kid is intellectually lazy.

In which case...the vast majority of kids are intellectually lazy. They did an anonymous poll of Columbia students (prior to their rankings controversy) and 85% said they were at Columbia mainly because it was a top-rated school and that was the most important factor in choosing the school. I bet they would get the same results at nearly all the top schools.

Actually, there are quite a few who are. Not sure what poll you are referring to but, if true, not surprising whatsoever and to project that to most or all other applicants is a stretch.

[Anonymous]

You’re stupid and weird, OP. The change is rankings is not so great among any of the schools you named and won’t mean jack shit. Tulane, NYU, Northeastern, Wake, Wash U are other stories. Their rankings were artificially inflated and now that they’re back to reality yes, fewer top private schools kids desperate to get into a highly ranked school because they can’t get into Ivies will look elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

There was a thread on CC about this very issue. The responses were much more reasoned and, in short, the answer is not really. I guess outside the DCUM crowd, it doesn't much matter at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re stupid and weird, OP. The change is rankings is not so great among any of the schools you named and won’t mean jack shit. Tulane, NYU, Northeastern, Wake, Wash U are other stories. Their rankings were artificially inflated and now that they’re back to reality yes, fewer top private schools kids desperate to get into a highly ranked school because they can’t get into Ivies will look elsewhere.

You sound oddly angry

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re stupid and weird, OP. The change is rankings is not so great among any of the schools you named and won’t mean jack shit. Tulane, NYU, Northeastern, Wake, Wash U are other stories. Their rankings were artificially inflated and now that they’re back to reality yes, fewer top private schools kids desperate to get into a highly ranked school because they can’t get into Ivies will look elsewhere.

Artificially inflated?! Pray tell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think for many people, USNWR is a way to figure out what some good schools are. As immigrants, I know it is used as a general guideline to explore schools. I have an undergrad from overseas, a STEM masters and an MBA from a top 3 program in th US. Only during my MBA did I even come to know about SLACs, Dartmouth or Brown. I had never heard of these schools before. We sent our kids to private schools and learnt more about US colleges. However, many in our immigrant community use USNWR to create a list. I know kids who don't want to apply to WashU this year because it is not a top 20.

If a kid is not going to apply to a school simply because it's not a top 20 on USNWR this year, than that kid is intellectually lazy.

It does not matter what you or I think. I am just telling you that ratings have an influence. If a school has a strong brand name, kids and parents will not bother as much with the ranking. Only HYPMS are in that bracket. For many other schools, rankings do matter. I am not saying that they should matter, it is just that I see that they matter. I guarantee that WashU will see a drop in applications this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think for many people, USNWR is a way to figure out what some good schools are. As immigrants, I know it is used as a general guideline to explore schools. I have an undergrad from overseas, a STEM masters and an MBA from a top 3 program in th US. Only during my MBA did I even come to know about SLACs, Dartmouth or Brown. I had never heard of these schools before. We sent our kids to private schools and learnt more about US colleges. However, many in our immigrant community use USNWR to create a list. I know kids who don't want to apply to WashU this year because it is not a top 20.

If a kid is not going to apply to a school simply because it's not a top 20 on USNWR this year, than that kid is intellectually lazy.

In which case...the vast majority of kids are intellectually lazy. They did an anonymous poll of Columbia students (prior to their rankings controversy) and 85% said they were at Columbia mainly because it was a top-rated school and that was the most important factor in choosing the school. I bet they would get the same results at nearly all the top schools.

Actually, there are quite a few who are. Not sure what poll you are referring to but, if true, not surprising whatsoever and to project that to most or all other applicants is a stretch.

I will try to find it...it was part of Malcolm Gladwell's podcast/research on why the USNews rankings (at least previous to their changes) rewarded all the rich private schools and penalized most of the public schools and the small regional schools. The series is quite interesting and believe it was done in 2021.

Are you trying to claim Columbia attracts a certain kind of student that is overly concerned about ranking...but Harvard and the other ivy schools do not?

[Anonymous]

I think generally it doesn’t matter, but I’ll put an asterisk next to Dartmouth. Terrible showing is these rankings plus called out for catering to 1% in NYT. They’ve had a bad year.

[Anonymous]

I guess this year's USNWR ranking really matters if you now place emphasis on the number of Pell Grant recipients when choosing a college