College Rankings
What is being measured?
- First question parents should ask is, “What is the ranking system actually measuring?”
- Sometimes the same college could be ranked differently depending on the ranking system
Common factors considered by most parents:
- Class size
- Cost
- Reputation
- Student:faculty ratio
- Employment rate after college
- Graduation rate
Global university rankings general criteria:
- Reputation
- Student:faculty ratio
- Research
- International ratio
US News college rankings general criteria:
- Salary of alumni
- Success of alumni
- Student debt
- Student satisfaction
- Graduation rate
Guardian (United Kingdom) university rankings general criteria:
- Student satisfaction
- Student:faculty ratio
- Cost
- Entry requirements
- Value added (how much students learned in the duration spent in college)
- Career prospects
In the UK, subject-based rankings are available.
Problems measuring the data:
- Value added: SAT scores in college and GRE scores after college could help measure the value added by college but it is a standardized test—does not mean students are achieving the skills necessary to sustain a job.
- Reputation: The surveys may not have accurate data because of the preconception that a college with a reputable name
- Selectivity (Entry standards or the acceptance/rejection rate)
- Research: Many rankings are based on number of articles produced by professors. There has now been a shift in the quality of articles because professors are trying to publish more to help with university rankings.
How do you weight the universities? Can you use the rankings to find a good university?
- At the end of the day, it is up to the publisher of these rankings who decide the best colleges based on their choice of criteria and weightings.
- College ranking systems can be gamed.
- Understand how the rankings are created.
Rankings are great to generate some questions:
- Ask probing questions.
- Do not allow visiting university representatives to hide behind their rankings
- Decide what’s important to them.
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