U.S. News & World Report recently released its 2024 college rankings – a simultaneously much awaited and dreaded annual moment in the world of elite college admissions. Notable changes in rankings include Dartmouth College, which dropped from No. 12 to No. 18, and University of Chicago, which fell from No. 6 to No. 12. Some public universities such as Rutgers saw its three campuses rise at least 15 spots each, and the University of Texas at San Antonio jumped 92 spots on the list.
At a National Association for College Admission Counseling conference shortly after the rankings were released, one educator shared details about calls from parents who were specifically concerned about New York University’s dramatic drop in the U.S. News rankings from No. 25 to No. 35 this year. Some of these parents were former clients of the educator whose children currently attend the school and were wondering whether they should consider transferring, and others were current clients whose children were prospective applicants to NYU this year.
According to a report from the Art and Science Group, an education consulting firm, 55% of college-bound high school seniors polled agreed with the statement “Rankings are very important to me,” and 51% of students agreed “Rankings are very important to my parents.” While there are many annual college lists, U.S. News’ rankings receive wide attention from parents and students alike, with 22% in the Art and Science Group survey reporting engagement with that product.
The Art and Science Group report contends that “students often choose which schools might be the best fit for them based on how elite they understand the institution to be, which is informed, but not entirely decided, by the U.S. News rankings.” How should families make sense of all of these seemingly arbitrary changes in college rankings? NYU as an institution didn’t change at all between September 17, when it was No. 25, and September 18, when it dropped to No. 35, so how should families make sense of its dramatic descent in rankings?
The first thing to understand is the sheer complexity of the ever-shifting criteria used to evaluate each institution. U.S. News released a memo on all the changes to its evaluation methodology this year. The magazine stated its 2024 rankings “places more emphasis on social mobility and outcomes”, and as a result, “new factors were added to this year’s rankings, including first-generation graduation rates, first-generation graduation rate performance and proportion of college graduates earning more than a high school graduate.” In addition, U.S. News expanded the definition of “social mobility” in the National Universities rankings “ to include first-generation graduation rates, in addition to Pell-recipient graduation rates.” This new methodology also eliminated five factors that used to heavily affect a college’s ranking, including class size, faculty with terminal degrees, alumni donations, high school class standing, as well as the proportion of graduates who borrow federal loans.
Despite U.S. News’ attempts at leveling the playing field, higher education institutions criticized its new methodology as flawed. One example is Vanderbilt University, whose ranking fell from No. 18 to No. 13 from the previous year. Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and Provost C. Cybele Raver wrote in an email to Vanderbilt alumni, “U.S. News’s change in methodology has led to dramatic movement in the rankings overall, disadvantaging many private research universities while privileging large public institutions.”
Some lists, such as the U.S. News, are increasingly placing an emphasis on student outcomes and first-generation graduation rates. Other lists such as Forbes’ list places more weight on alumni salary in jobs, student debt, and graduation rates. However, rankings aside, college fit arguably plays a much larger role in a child’s future success than college prestige. Ultimately, fit will do much more to unlock a student’s intellectual and professional potential than anything else.
In fact, Art and Science Group’s report suggests there is increasing evidence that students are “approaching rankings more as a generalized fact-finding process than a discrete factor in making their decisions.” Since 2016, “U.S. news’ influence has apparently shrunk: prospective students at the final stages of decision-making now report a 10% narrower gap between it and the next most influential ranking source,” the report added.
So, what makes a great college fit? Cultural compatibility and how likely the environment can help a student cultivate inner motivation. A 2014 UC Davis study in Neuron found students are simply better at learning things and more likely to succeed academically and professionally when they are curious and passionate about the subject area. An intrinsically motivated student at a supposedly lower-ranked school like the University of Michigan has a better chance of succeeding in life than an unmotivated student at a top ranked school like Princeton. I also would argue that if students are able to demonstrate intellectual authenticity and vitality by the time they are applying to college, they have a pretty good chance of success no matter where they end up. This is very much part of our pedagogical philosophy at Polygence, where students explore potential college majors through personalized research projects.
Rankings likely will continue to loom large in society’s perception of higher education institutions. But if families can take the time to understand their evaluation criteria and internalize how fit can ultimately trump prestige, then we are one step closer to a more sustainable and sane college admissions process.
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