Reply to WSJ/Times Higher Education: College Rankings for 2021

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Completely different methodology than US News, with student test scores and grades, admit rates and yields not included. The rankings are based on resources (like endowment), student engagement (by survey), outcomes (graduate salaries) and environment (measure of diversity).  So naturally the wealthiest schools rise to the top. The pecking order we are used to based on selectivity gets shaken up here, after the top cluster at least. [/quote]

This WSJ list feels like a reactionary attempt by the upper middle class to return college rankings back to the good old days of being the gatekeepers of social status. The schools are ordered largely based on the wealth of the school and its students, along with vestigial “prestige.” It doesn’t say anything about the delta between the where the students start and where they end up, which should be the real measure of a school’s value.

USNews isn’t perfect, but I appreciate how they are attempting to measure the value that a school truly adds by considering the socioeconomic status of the students when judging their outcomes. If a school has a disproportionate percentage of affluent students, its not surprising that the student outcomes look good. I’m more impressed by less exalted schools that consistently deliver positive outcomes for less affluent students. [/quote]

US News ranking recently seems to be on steroid, with big spurious oscillations from year to year.

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The US News top rankings are pretty stable.  Perhaps too stable.  The big changes recently happened more below 20 or so in the rankings and seem to have been driven by the inclusion of Pell Grants / Social mobility in the ratings.  This WSJ ranking doesn't make that much sense to me below the top schools as well.   [/quote]

It looks more like what international students in China might prefer.  Harvard is #1 cuz Chinese grandpas and grandmas would know Harvard.  The list looks more like what schools their kids might have realistic chances - soft-"ivy" Cornell over some top Ivies.  [/quote]

Schools could be ranked cleanly based on some clear criteria.  Most prestigious.  Most selective.  Value add for earnings.  Value for money.  Quality of teaching.  But when you combine them all together in a ranking, it kind of muddies things up. [/quote]

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