Do Rankings of Colleges and Graduate or Professional Schools Really Have Value?

Yes….and no. Undergraduate colleges and graduate or professional schools are constantly being rated and ranked. Do these evaluations have value? They can, but only if applied consistently over a long time. Many individual institution and program rankings  vary as time passes. A college or professional program can, and often does, move up and down in the rankings. These moves depend on factors like changing inflows of research funding, varying percentages of applicants who are offered admission, and other factors; some of which colleges can affect intentionally. Different algorithms can also rank institutions in surprisingly variable ways.

Colleges are ranked on innumerable metrics. Everything from faculty to student ratio and the quality of campus parties, to alumni earnings are included in these algorithms. Each of which weighs the variables it captures differently. The weights set on these variables, and the items themselves, change occasionally. This can reshape the rankings. Most importantly, simple time means that campuses relative scores can, and do, change. Effectively, “past performance does not guarantee future results”.

Rankings depend on colleges submitting data honestly and accurately. This doesn’t always happen. They can also be applied at the wrong time in a student’s life. Choosing a Bachelor’s program based on how well respected the university’s research faculty may be a mistake if you think you’ll need a lot of attention from the faculty. Great researchers’ diverse responsibilities mean they often have little time to train people who won’t work with them for very long. Undergraduates, therefore, may find faculty to student ratio or student satisfaction or alumni donation rates or the average earnings of alumni to be better indicators of the value they will get from their money than how a college’s researchers are collectively ranked. Similarly, changes in campus policy may mean that the quality of social life, instruction or housing can vary sharply over relatively short periods of time.

Rankings, therefore, can be helpful snapshots of how a campus compares to its peers at present. Many factors can change schools’ rankings given time, different algorithms, or the college’s skill at affecting how it is ranked. It is therefore best to look at campuses based on as many different factors as you possibly can—including your impressions of the college or graduate program itself if you can visit—before deciding where to go.

This essay is one of several I have written to help students and their families think about the things that are truly important when they choose a college. If you wish to discuss your plans for college with me, you may do so in English by scheduling an appointment with me on Goldmedalgrads.com.