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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Re quasi sleazy tactics. Here are some (Wash U is far from alone, and not as bad as some):

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/22/us/a-mighty-fund-raising-effort-helps-lift-a-college-s-ranking.html

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/02/which-schools-arent-lying-their-way-higher-us-news-ranking/61874/[/quote]

The NY Times article linked above is [b]TEN years old![/b]  The rankings methodology has changed since then and # of applications is just one small factor is one of many categories: selectivity.  If you could influence rankings as much as some think by just increasing the # of applications, the California State schools would own the top ten - their check the box and apply to every school approach resulted in nearly 100,000 apps to UCLA this year.  It's not that simple folks.

The other (main) factor the NY Times discussed a decade ago is a 3.5 billion fund raising push to increase endowment.  Hard to imagine anything "sleazy" about increasing resources and improving facilities leading to improved rankings.  One of the great thing about the US News rankings is that it identifies and rewards the schools making improvements so those looking to learn about colleges don't have to rely only on outdated stereotypes and what they thought they knew 20 years ago.[/quote]

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