Saturday, November 28, 2009

Education

Morse Code: Inside the College Rankings

How Important Are the Rankings?

January 22, 2009 06:39 PM ET | Robert Morse | Permanent Link | Print

Reader Comments

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If you read the methodology for how the Public Affairs/Policy programs were ranked (via surveys of faculty at the various grad schools) you should already wonder why is one school ranked higher than another. US News rankngs have always been completely flawed. I don't understand why they do not poll alumni (to find-out how satisfied they are with their degree and jobs gained after grad school), and various organizations and government agencies that hire MPP/MPA alums on the performance of students that gained degrees from the listed grad programs. Isn't this why you may pick one school over another, on the opportunities and positions tha degree allows you to pursue. Further, US News never ranks how grad program budgets/endowments benefit students. If a school has a high endowment and spends little on improving a students experience in the program (scholarships, funding summer internships, increasing access to best software/technology), why should funding and endowments matter?

Are you kidding me?!

This is nonsense. The USNEWS rankings might be the #1 factor in selecting a graduate school for Public Affairs if there was the same level of detail and breakout as there was for the other professional masters programs such as Law, Business, Education, Medicine, etc. Instead the USNEWS public affairs rankings are meaningless and as such respondants from the survey do not expect much from it. For example, there is a four way tie for #10 rank and an ELEVEN way tie for the #14 rank. How could one ascertain any meaning from these rankings in the current form?

Outside the campus box

Find me the guy/gal who can make self-study bear a stamp equivalent to "accreditation" and I'll show you the guy/gal who totally reforms the colleges.

We have very respected and accomplished home schoolers in the K-12 sector. Time for the same thinking to penetrate the monopoly of "degrees" with institutional names on them.

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About this Blog

Robert Morse is director of data research for U.S. News & World Report and has worked at the magazine since 1976. He develops the methodologies and surveys for the America's Best Colleges and America's Best Graduate Schools annual rankings, keeping an eye on higher-education trends to make sure the rankings offer prospective students the best analysis available. Morse Code provides deeper insights into the methodologies and is a forum for commentary and analysis of college, grad and other rankings.

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