Rankings with Sense

In the realm of higher education the US News annual college ranking edition has been quite controversial. Many administrators have argued that the ranking is flawed because of a number of variations in the process. The US News edition that includes the college rankings is the biggest seller for the magazine. So they certainly have a strong economic interest in the project. But US News has been remarkably opaque about their ranking system - they have changed the ranking system almost annually.

The most troubling part of the process of ranking is the survey on reputations. That survey amounts to 25% of the total ranking and looks an awful lot like a glorified gossip source. For the past couple of years, the percentage responses has been declining rather precipitously. This year 46% of the surveys were returned. That is good news for the magazine but it is great news for the rest of us.

In the last couple of years some very prestigious colleges and universities have decided not to participate in the survey. For example, the Annapolis Group, a group of selective liberal arts colleges have been the most vociferous critics of the US News process and substance. The college rankings are tweaked a bit each year by altering the variables - but the attitudes survey is always a major part.

This is not to say that students and families should not have transparent information to understand the breadth of college and university opportunities in the country. They should. But the US News project is more about selling magazines than providing transparent information. So bravo to the colleges and universities who just said no to US News.