Whooppeee!!! U.S. News & World Report released its latest college rankings today. This marks the 25th time that the magazine has issued its numerical rankings on the best colleges and universities in the country. I’d say that is 25 times too many. As I mention in my book, The College Solution, and elsewhere on my […]
Archive | College rankings
Gunning for U.S. News & World Report's College Rankings
By Lynn O'Shaughnessy on August 15, 2008 in Academic majors, Academic quality, College rankings, Evaluating Schools
I’ve only run across two or three people out here in California, who have heard of my daughter’s college. Even when Caitlin tells people the name of her school-–Juniata College–they stumble on the pronunciation. I used to do the same thing before we visited the college that’s nestled in the Allegheny Mountains in rural Pennsylvania. […]
Cashing In With Dubious College Rankings
Last week, The Princeton Review released its annual publication, The Best 368 Colleges. Inevitably the book generates tremendous press coverage each year and lots of sales. I just checked the book’s rank on Amazon.com and it was the online book seller’s 400th most popular title. To put this number in perspective, Amazon.com sells well over […]
College Rankings: Playing With Better Numbers
Perhaps the biggest problem with college rankings is that millions of people believe them. When U.S. News & World Reports declares that Notre Dame is the nation’s 19th best university, rarely will anybody dispute that number. When the magazine ranks the University of Chicago and the University of Virginia as 9th and 23rd among the […]