Why US News’ College Rankings Are a Joke

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  1

  Questioning Reader

  08/20/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Why US News' College Rankings Are a Joke

  You certainly haven't looked at everything that US News puts out within its College guide. It groups schools in lots of ways. My own college made it in the Best Undergrad Teaching category. That certainly seems like a category that is all about what is actually happening in the classroom. They also have up and coming schools, so that is where those overlooked schools can show up. You should try to look at what US News is actually producing rather than just reading a few headlines. It is not who is number one overall that matters, it is all the other information that can help students narrow their college search (or even find a school they might never have heard of otherwise).

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  2

  Steve Pusey

  08/21/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Why US News' College Rankings Are a Joke

  As an administrator at Trevecca Nazarene University, I heartily agree with Lynn O?Shaughnessy?s suggestion that US News adopt a more ?helpful? approach in assessing colleges ? one that shifts from reporting on a college?s ?reputation? to one that focuses on measuring the ?quality? of the school?s education. In fact, for some time key administrators here have declined the offer to participate in US News?s rankings for the very reasons she has outlined. To her observations, I add these questions: What really constitutes authentic evaluation? Do assessments by persons who have no direct knowledge of an institution outweigh specific evidence of the quality and accomplishments of an institution and its programs that regional and professional accrediting agencies use? Where in the rankings is there any consideration of the unique mission of an institution and whether or not the college is accomplishing its purposes?
  
  The reality is that colleges like Trevecca Nazarene University do not seek to be like Harvard, or even Purdue. The purpose of Trevecca, for example, is to provide high-level, rigorous, and varied educational services and academic programs, from strong liberal arts undergraduate majors through doctoral degrees in several professional fields, to qualified individuals who desire a university education in a Christian environment and from a Christian understanding. We are very good at what we claim to do, as measured by our regional and professional accrediting bodies; however, an attempt to rank us generally does not fit in well with the broad category of a ?national research university.?
  
  While this might suggest a weakness in US News rankings through the misuse of the Carnegie Foundation classifications, the message that it communicates to parents and prospective undergraduate students can be very misleading. For instance, it cannot necessarily be concluded that an institution that is ranked high because of its ?reputation,? based on such factors as its graduate programs, research success, or even its football team, also provides an outstanding undergraduate program. To be more specific, Trevecca may not be well known or able to compete with a Yale or Iowa State in research, but we do have many outstanding undergraduate and graduate-level programs that are arguably equal to or, in several cases, above those offered at other national universities ranked higher than Trevecca and or ranked in other classifications. To give one example, not many institutions can complete with the quality of Trevecca?s graduate and undergraduate teacher education programs. An added benefit to undergraduate students at a small national university such as Trevecca is that they are most often taught by faculties who were employed on the basis of meeting the high standards necessary for teaching at the graduate level. This is not always the case at larger research universities that rely on graduate teaching assistants for undergraduate instruction.
  
  I suppose that the ?bottom line? is that any attempt at ranking colleges and universities has it weaknesses. What is important is that parents and prospective students understand these as they go through the selection process. The danger is that they may miss the opportunity to receive an outstanding education at a life-changing institution like Trevecca.
  
  Steve Pusey
  University Provost
  Trevecca Nazarene University
  
  

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  3

  Questioning Reader

  08/21/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Why US News' College Rankings Are a Joke

  Your university chooses to not participate in the rankings survey? Are you at least keeping track of all of the data that they ask about? I know for a fact that many schools didn't always keep track of a lot of the information that US News uses for its rankings until US News asked for it. Also, every year they try to make the whole college guide more useful by adding different categories and more information. You are doing a disservice to your prospective students by not participating in the survey. You make it harder to find all of the information that US News provides. Also, how can the rankings ever change if lesser known schools do not participate because they think they cannot compare to Harvard, etc... What schools would the administrators at your university choose as the best in the country? That information is valuable within these rankings, and the rankings can only be as good as the data that is collected. So, by not participating you are helping to ensure that Harvard and Princeton will stay in the top. Your school should reevaluate this policy.

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  The College Solution

  08/23/09 | Reported as spam

  RE: Why US News' College Rankings Are a Joke

  I completely agree with Steve Pusey. The rankings are destructive and don't reflect what type of learning is taking place at various institutions.
  
  I find it particularly ironic that Harvard is tied for No. 1 this year even though the school is grappling with what is quite possibly the biggest financial crisis in its history. For goodness sake, students at Harvard aren't even going to be able to eat hot breakfasts during the week because of the school's cash crisis.
  
  I certainly don't fault Trevecca Nazarene from declining to provide US News and World Report information. Many schools are also withholding information -- particularly the peer assessments -- in protest of the rankings. Refusing to cooperate produces its own perils for institutions, which I address in my book, The College Solution.

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  5

  tmcneal

  09/27/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Why US News' College Rankings Are a Joke

  I think that it is really sad that US News does not show respect for state universities. Schools like Rutgers, Georgia Tech, NC Chapel Hill and the list goes on are not given the credit that they deserve simply because they are labeled as "state universities", and may not have the same type of endowments that Harvard and Princeton have. For the cost and the type of professors that you have at Rutgers, and lets not forget the diversified student body and the resources, you cannot get a better education than at Rutgers University. I have attended Rutgers, Harvard, Clark Atlanta and Vanderbilt Universities (all private except for Rutgers), and my experiences at Rutgers has been more than outstanding. Rutgers is without any question a hidden treasure, a place where your educational experiences come alive. You are constantly influenced and tested by the forever changing environment, an eminently qualified faculty, and a highly selected student body who does not fit into a "box" like so many of the students at the ivy and private universities. Rutgers' students do not feel "entitled"; therefore, they become empowered by their surroundings and move towards a true global education. This is what US News should look for when they do their rankings. Perhaps than one would see the real picture - "Schools that are educating their students for the future".

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  wizonwall

  11/29/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Why US News' College Rankings Are a Joke

  I agree with you. Since my son was preparing for college I
  went crazy searching for rankings. However, when I spoke to
  a few students of different highly ranked universities I
  realized that over all the Rutgers student has more exposure
  to education materials and goes through more grinding due to
  heavy load of work and no team work.
  Many schools might be better in training students for specific
  tasks but that is because we are living in an engineered
  economy. When things will be set to normalcy the reality will
  aid students from seriously trained schools.
  I think Rutgers education is tough and if it were team work
  oriented as other schools it would be as easy going and
  enjoyable, and the students would be very happy here, and
  this school would Rank in top 10 in many categories. I think
  Rutgers must immediately focus on building student teams for
  studies and class activities.
  

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  7

  iwantanswers

  12/20/09 | Report as spam

  Complaints

  This article stops just when it was about to get interesting. The meat of the article is yawn-worthy. US News puts an insane amount of weight of peer repudiation scores, making the ranking-system self-perpetuating, as peers are likely to give a school that always gets a high rank a high score in large part *because* it always gets a high rank. This isn't news, and it's hardly interesting, but it would present a reasonable introduction to an interesting article about how to fix the US News rankings. So, where's the other half of the article? You've leveled your criticism - now I want to see some proposals and alternatives! What would a better system look like? How should we to evaluate the educational worth of an institution relative to other institutions?