The True Importance of College Rankings

Every fall, there's a new crisis in college admissions. More students are applying, and less are being accepted to the premium colleges. A crisis in education...or is it?

The US News and World Report publishes every year the rankings that are considered to be the gold standard for college rankings in America. It lists in order the "best colleges in America". Are they the best colleges in America? Would they be right for you or your child?

The truth is, there are hundreds of good colleges in the nation, in almost every community, and most of them will freely admit most of the students who apply. Each has its own different set of benefits and disadvantages. So what's the crisis crunch in admissions that is being talked about?

The media loves to play up the 100 colleges or so that are considered "Ivy League" or exceptional in one respect or another. Choosing a college based on the US News and World Report ranking would be about as effective as choosing a college based on a ranking printed in Rolling Stone or in a book from the library. These 100 colleges get more press, so more people know about them. Hence, more admissions and less students are accepted, which feeds the cycle of being "exclusive", when the education you receive at these exclusive schools might be just as good as you'd receive from the local community college (and a lot more expensive than the community college).

It's a perceived shortcut, when in fact, there is no shortcut. You must evaluate colleges yourself, based on what criteria are important to you. Consider the following questions:

Will you get a better education at a higher-ranked college?

No matter where you choose to go to school, the law of the harvest remains. You get out of a college course what you put into it. This follows whether or not you get a good teacher, or whether or not the class is top-drawer or average. If you go to Yale or Harvard and get Cs and Ds, you're not getting a good education.

Will you get better network contacts at an exclusive school?