How helpful are college rankings?

Americans love to rank things. We need to know which NFL team has the best defense, who makes the most money in the world and which city has the most pizzerias. We can’t get enough.
So it’s not surprising that college rankings are a hot topic among college-bound students and their parents. Not only do these reports satisfy our desire to know which school is “best,” but they also feel like a guidepost when we sit down with our seniors to help them make one of the biggest decisions of their lives.

Difficult to Compare
The problem is that college rankings don’t tell you which school is best for your child. And nobody—except maybe the people doing the ranking—seems sure that it’s possible to quantify and then compare what happens on different campuses across the country.
But that doesn’t stop plenty of publications and organizations from trying. The most popular of the bunch is U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings. Each year, the editors solicit data from about 1,500 American colleges and then, based on criteria the editors have established, give a numeric value to each school.

Colleges Provide Data
Some things to consider with this approach. The colleges provide the vast majority of this data—and the schools have a vested interest in boosting their spots on the list. Several media reports in recent years have revealed that a handful of school officials have fudged their numbers to inch up a few spots on the list.

Another troubling area are the criteria. For example, 25 percent of a school’s academic quality score is “peer assessment”—or what other college officials — many miles and states away — say about a particular school. Also 15 percent of the criteria is based on “student selectivity”—or how academically gifted the freshmen class was last year. This info doesn’t tell you anything about how well the college helps students hone their talents in preparation for full-blown adulthood.

And there’s the rub. Rankings often don’t assess experience or outcomes; a single scale cannot account for the ways different colleges serve different students.

Quality Teaching/Learning
That said, other organizations seem to have taken into account the criticism lobbed at the U.S. News rankings and have shifted their criteria to focus more on quality of teaching and learning. The most notable of this group is the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP), a non-profit research group that examines issues related to how well or poorly higher education works.

CCAP teamed up with Forbes to produce its list of the best American colleges, published each August. Student evaluations at RateMyProfessor.com make up 25 percent of a school’s score, and national academic awards won by students and faculty make up 13.3 percent, while things like debt load and four-year graduation rates weigh heavily as well (20 percent and 16.6 percent, respectively).
The CCAP highlights small liberal arts colleges, military academies and mid-sized private universities, alongside the Ivies. By ignoring reputation, the list perhaps got closer to identifying the schools where high-quality teaching encourages high-quality learning—and where that learning translates into successful careers for alumni.

Compare Lists
Still, no list is perfect, and you should resist the temptation to let rankings persuade you to feel good or bad about a particular campus. If you really must peek, check out several lists rather than putting too much weight on any one published account of “the best.” Take a close look at the criteria, and consider how well it reflects the qualities you and your child want in a college.

And if you just can’t help giving credence to these annual lists, remember that rankings are probably good at one thing: starting a lively conversation.

Better Than Rankings
Looking for a better way to access schools than trusting ranked lists? Try these resources:
Colleges That Change Lives (Penguin) by Loren Pope: The former New York Times education editor highlights 40 liberal arts colleges that he says deliver top-notch teaching and outpace Ivies in producing movers and shakers.
Harvard Schmarvard (Three Rivers Press) by Jay Mathews: Skip the name-brand schools and find a school that suits you best, the author advises—and then shows you how.
Collegeportraits.org: Get basic info on public colleges and universities here. It functions like a basic college guidebook—but it’s free.
Ucan-network.org: Learn about private colleges and universities by searching by 17 different criteria to find a school that suits you. Again, the info is basic, but it’s a good (free) place to start.