Here's some of the points made in the just posted article:
3. The college rankings formula can be gamed.
Plenty of universities have figured out how to crack the code to climb up the rankings ladder.
Northeastern University is one of the schools that focused single-mindedly on improving their rankings. Two decades ago, Northeastern was considered an third-tier, blue-collar commuter school stuck with an unattractive campus.
But then a new college president took over and focused single mindedly on saving the institution by doing whatever was possible to boost its U.S. News ranking.
Six years ago,
Boston Magazine explored this Cinderella tale and quoted the Northeastern president as saying, “There’s no question that the system invites gaming.”
U.S. News ranks Northeastern, which is now an extremely popular destination, as No. 40 in the coveted national university category. It is tied with such institutions as Tulane and College of William and Mary. A couple of decades ago it was ranked No. 162 and it was rare for anyone outside of Boston to have heard of it.
George Washington University was another struggling commuter school that successfully cracked the U.S. News college rankings code and began
attracting affluent students who could pay higher prices for a bachelor’s degree and, in turn, attract even more high-income teenagers.
Here is
an article from Washington Monthly about how ranking manipulation catapulted GWU in the rankings. It’s now ranked No. 70 in the national university category.
4. Popularity is a big ratings factor.
A school’s reputation among the right people will significantly impact it’s U.S. News ranking.
In annual surveys, three administrators from the offices of president, provost and admission at each school in the national university category, for instance, must assess what they think about all their peers on a one-to-five grading scale. (One is marginal and five is distinguished.)
Here, however, is the dilemma:
What do administrators at UCLA, Johns Hopkins, University of Tulsa and Kansas State know about what’s going on at Brandeis, Case Western Reserve, Virginia Tech and University of Missouri (my alma mater), much less 300 other schools in the national university category?
6. Rankings encourage colleges to favor affluent students.
US News awards schools which generate higher test scores and grade point averages for their incoming freshmen class, which favors rich students.
This focus on selectivity has been a boon for affluent high school students, who tend to enjoy better academic profiles. These teens can afford expensive test-prep courses and are more likely to have attended schools with stronger academic offerings. There is a strong positive correlation between standardized test scores and family income.
9. Rankings encourage admission tricks.
For instance,
US News’ algorithm favors schools that spurn more students. To increase their rejection rates, schools will court students through marketing materials and social media that they have no intention of accepting.
Here’s another trick: some institutions make it easy for students to apply via streamlined online applications, which are referred to in the industry as “fast apps.” Schools use this strategy to increase the size of their student body, as well as bump up their rejection rates.
10. Rankings don’t measure what’s important.
One of the perverse aspects about the rankings is that turning out thoughtful, articulate young men and women, who can write cogently and think critically won’t budge a school’s ranking up even one spot. Curiously enough,
U.S. News doesn’t even attempt to measure the type of learning going on at schools.
In reality, the methodology fueling the rankings are a collection of subjective measurements that students and families are supposed to rely upon to pinpoint the schools doing the best job of educating undergraduates.
U.S. News relies on proxies for educational quality, but these proxies are dubious at best.
11. Rankings encourage cheating.
Rankings have become such a high-stakes game that some schools send false data or have acted unethically. And I suspect that most of the schools that are manipulating their figures have never been caught. Those that have been outed in past years include Claremont McKenna, U.S. Naval Academy, Baylor University, Emory University.
13. Don’t believe the numbers.
You should not believe that a college ranked No. 1 or 19th or 73rd is better than peers ranked 6th or 42nd or 95th best. I’ve seen too many parents make terrible financial sacrifices to send their kids to rankings darlings when it was completely unnecessary.
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