Morse Code: Inside the College Rankings

Correcting One of Our Critics

September 14, 2007 RSS Feed Print

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Columbia College (Illinois) President Warrick Carter is wrong when he implies in recent letters to the Chicago Daily Herald and the Chicago Tribune that U.S. News ranked Columbia College in the recently published 2008 edition of America's Best Colleges. In fact, the exact opposite is the truth. Columbia College was very clearly listed among the "Unranked Schools" in the Universities Master's-Midwest category.

Carter complains about the U.S. News rankings by saying that their "ratings criteria, simply stated, are not standards of success that Columbia College Chicago chooses to apply to itself. The ratings do not adequately reflect the value of institutions that, like Columbia, open doors to the creative professions for significant segments of American society."

Actually, U.S. News agrees with Carter that schools that don't use the SAT or ACT in admissions should not be ranked and compared with others. That's why we added a new group of colleges to the list of "Unranked Schools" America's Best Colleges 2008. That list now includes those institutions that have indicated that they don't use the SAT or ACT in admissions decisions for first-time, first-year, degree-seeking applicants. U.S. News believes that because these schools, like Columbia College, don't use the SAT or ACT, it would be unfair to try to compare them statistically with the 96 percent of the other schools that do.

So, U.S. News agrees with Columbia College that it doesn't belong in our rankings because of its admissions policies, and we acted accordingly.

Tags:: SAT,; ACT,; rankings

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First of all Meri, you are way off base. There are many many polls taken and Columbia College Chicago is not even mentioned in any rankings, this is documented.Columbia accepts 80% of the student enrollment simply because the chiefs running the college are opportunists and will take money from anywhere. I can safely say this because I hold a Doctorate in Education. I work with many colleges and the majority of students transfer from Columbia College because they feel that they are not receiving the quality education for the cost at that facility.
There are two kinds of Columbia College students; the one who is haughty and thinks that Columbia is the only college in the world, and the other who is realistic and accepts the fact that Columbia College Chicago's curriculum and most of the instructors are questionable. I do admit, that their video facilities are good as well as their Early Childhood curriculum. As for the rest; I as well as many, would not waste the time of day with the remainder courses. Anything looks good on paper, the proof is in the results.Tell me the truth, where are you currently employed? Do you feel the education at Columbia added to your career?

John Dudley of IL 5:39AM February 09, 2010

I have no idea what "pole" John Dudley refers to, but as a graduate of Columbia College I find his remark to be utterly off-base. The curriculum standards differ between departments. This is standard in top schools, such as Oxford, allowing for a concentration to one's major. By my sophmore year I had already received a job offer from NBC Universal as a result of an internship I received through Columbia's Television Department. Very few colleges and universities allow students to work on their majors as early as their freshman year. It is this flexibility that allows the student body to work to their potential at the time of their choosing with the support of the faculty.
I would like to see how scientific this "pole" is considering the school rejects such collection of date.

Meri Williams of IL 8:29PM July 21, 2009

Columbia College Chicago is a legend in their own mind. A recent pole taken, states that 60% of the students who graduate from Columbia said that they would never enroll if they had to do it all over again. A good number of students transfer to other colleges because of a lack of curriculum standards; also, most of the instructors are questionable. Any institution can receive a multitude of grants and buy up everything in site. This does not make them the largest college in the country-maybe physically.

John Dudley of IL 4:34AM April 19, 2009