Putting US College Rankings in Perspective
The American people love to rank things. From cars to coffee, there are rankings for almost everything. Why do we like them so much? I think it may be because it is an easy way to get a quick overview of what can be very complex information. So it only makes sense that lists of US college rankings would be among the most popular rankings. They seem like the perfect way to choose which schools to apply to. After all, if a school doesn’t make the list, it means they’re not very good, right? Wrong.
What most people don’t know is that US college rankings tend to measure things like reputation (often 25% of the overall score). And here’s a really interesting piece; this part of the ranking can be determined by the grades given to the school by other colleges and universities. Aside from the obvious problem of the impossibility of all colleges knowing enough about each other to give an accurate and fair assessment, such an evaluation is very subjective and may be of questionable value when students are making their college choice. Some of the most well known US college rankings don’t even include students’ opinions as part of the ranking equation.
One of the things that concerns me most about US college rankings is what you can’t see as you flip through a magazine or scroll though a list on the internet. You can’t see what’s behind the statistics. You can’t know if a school has given a different interpretation to the survey questions that, for example, may give a more favorable view of full time faculty on campus than is strictly accurate. You can’t know if the groundbreaking research being done includes undergraduates who are getting credit when the results are published or if only grad students have access to those opportunities. No, for those answers you have to go deeper - and that takes time.
It requires that students look beyond the name of a school to what the school really has to offer them. That means taking a good look at what kind of learning environment suits them best. A student who is a hands-on learner should look at different schools than one who prefers a lecture-based type of learning and vice versa. Both could probably survive at a school that uses a different type of education than they prefer, but will they thrive there or will they just survive?
Not sure how to make the right college choice? Based on the National Survey for Student Engagement that looks at what makes students successful in college, here are some questions you should be asking about each campus:
- How academically challenging is the school?
- To what extent does the school encourage and employ active and cooperative learning?
- What is the level and quality of faculty-student interaction?
- To what extent are enriching educational experiences available and accessible to all members of the student body?
- In what ways does the school promote a supportive school environment?
While US college rankings can be a good place to start talking about college and what you’re looking for, if that’s all you use, you’re likely to miss out on some amazing schools. You might not hear about the school where students take the honor code so seriously that you can leave your laptop in the cafeteria and it will still be there when you come back for it an hour later. And chances are you’ll miss any information on that school where you can rent kayaks, backpacks, rollerblades, or practically anything else you may need to enjoy the outdoors for very little money. See what I mean? There’s a whole world beyond what you can see from those well-known lists of US college rankings.
If you really want to use rankings, you should use your own. You are the expert on how you learn best, the kind of learning environment where you shine, the academic and co-curricular programs you are looking for, the social environment where you feel most comfortable, and what you can reasonably afford to pay for your education. Put these things together with the answers you get to the questions above and you’ve got a ranking system that may actually help you find a college that’s a great fit. That’s actually the most important thing.
Still need help? I urge you to seek out the expertise of your guidance counselor or an independent college counselor. Their years of experience may enable them to guide you to a few schools you may not have considered because they are not as well known, but just might be the perfect fit for you.
