01
Feb
Are U.S. News and World Report’s rankings corrupting higher education?
“Research suggests that whatever flaws the rankings may have, schools would be foolish to ignore them. That’s because, according to two studies, a higher rank attracts more elite students. A 2004 study examined the impact of the U.S. News rankings, which (during the time of much of the study’s data set) ranked the top 25 schools and assigned the others to quartiles. The study found that when schools moved to higher quartiles in the ranks, they increased the number of incoming students from the top 10 percent of their high school class and lowered their acceptance rate.”
— Nathan Pippenger, “How U.S. News Rankings Are Corrupting Higher Education”
The U.S. News ranking may not be a universally-accepted measure of quality, but that doesn’t seem to matter to elite students trying to choose a college.
Apparently, for many of the college administrators trying to attract those students, it doesn’t matter either. So what gives?
Photo courtesy of thecollegesolution.com.
