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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The only obstacle is that there are not enough seats for all of the qualified students who want to attend. Unless colleges want to address that (and I can't say that they do -- it would certainly change a lot about campus life, class size, facilities, etc.) this is how it's gonna be.[/quote]

There are plenty of seats available for "qualified students"---just look outside the T20 schools.  The differences between a T20 and a T60 school are minimal.  Plenty of really really really smart kids at schools ranked 30-60.  Once you realize that, not much needs to change.  Just you broadening your definition of acceptable schools. 
[/quote] 
The Fiske  guide covers about 320 schools that the authors have  determined to be the best and most interesting colleges in the United States. That only about 10% of colleges but includes a number of worthy, really underrated institutions.[/quote]

Yup---totally agree.  Any of those schools will get you an excellent education.  More importantly, many of them will be very affordable. [/quote]

I really wish people would focus on the Princeton Review or Fiske guide rather than USNWR.  They are all reputable strong schools--they help you avoid problematic ones and offer enough of a range of choices of types of schools.
The USNWR rankings are composed of often miniscule differences --hundredths of a point difference on qualities that may or may not matter to you and it ends up pushing people into a lot of unneeded stress about admissions and finances.  Going to a very top school will give advantages, sure, so if you can get in and it's affordable, kudos to you.  But as you move even a little down the list, the distinctions between the schools are really minor and fluid--often depending on how a school has gamed the rankings.  A school ranked 100 just sounds so much worse than one ranked 40--but it literally may just mean tenths of a point difference on some metrics. A state school or an LAC ranked 40 is just not that materially different than one ranked 70 but it may cost you a lot more and be a worse fit.  Stretching academically and financially to be in a school  that is so impressive that everyone knows how good it is (e.g., HYPSM) might be worth it, but anywhere "below" that often just means that you don't stand out to faculty enough to get the richest opportunities and you have more debt or less assets to use for other purposes than if you weren't as 'rankings conscious.' [/quote]

+1.  I suspect USNWR rankings has cost the U.S. many, many billions with no benefit.  Its focus on resources (spending) has been one of the significant factors in the 40 year period where higher education has outpaced inflation by 3X.  [/quote]

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