A recent article in Inside Higher Ed reported on a survey of high school and admissions counselors conducted by the National Association of Admission Counseling. The counselors had the opportunity to “rank” the accuracy of US News and World Report rankings. The majority, 51.3% of college admissions counselors and 61.9% of high school counselors, said the rankings published in “America’s Best Colleges” were “not accurate at all”.
While we have often cautioned students against relying on rankings, this report validates that students should consider rankings as only a small piece of information on the colleges that they are interested in. There are so many other ways to research schools. In addition, the most important aspect to think about when considering a college is whether or not it is going to provide the right opportunities for you, not just if the college has the “right” ranking. If you really want to look at rankings, you might want to have a look at our own rankings that combine the systems of US News, Forbes, Academic Review of World Universities.
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