Students Say College Rankings Aren't Most Important Part of Decision

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I agree with Elizabeth that there is a need for further research behind some of these questions - that alone is part of the problem which would truly get to the heart of their response. Does that mean I get a cut of the $100 bet?

Jeff Miller of MO 4:05PM March 26, 2009

In my opinion, there is a major flaw in how this data was gathered and also in how it's being interpreted. The top item influencing a student's decision to attend a college is "College has very good academic reputation" (64.7%). How about asking the logical follow up question.....what influences your impressions of the academic repuation of a college. I'll bet you $100 that the rankings will be right up at the top.

Elizabeth Scarborough of NY 3:31PM February 13, 2009

The UCLA survey shows "rankings in national magazines" eleventh, but "academic reputation" number one. I have to wonder to what extent college rankings influence the perception of academic reputation?

Teresa of AL 9:41AM February 02, 2009

hi iam srusht in kurdistan iraq iam a teacher ENGLISH LANGUAGE now iam teaching a lesson at school . but i want to continou my education in ur college but i dont have enough money .i promice after study i will work to get a money for my study .i wait ur answer.
with my regards

srusht of AK 3:12PM January 31, 2009

...not college rankings. The reason college applicants are not as wrapped up in rankings is that, for one, they are less inclined to research them, and, for two, they do not make the immediate connection between such rankings and their future prospects.
I'll admit that had I known about college rankings when I was in high school (they didn't exist then), I would only have applied to the Top-15/20 "national colleges and universities", with an understanding of their potential impact(s) on my law school prospects and, ultimately, my career.
When these students begin to understand the impact(s) the rankings may have on their futures (which is, admittedly, not as large as that of grad schools), they will begin playing the game, just as Law, Medical and Business school applicants have.

Ivan of WA 1:23AM January 31, 2009

...If the online chatrooms, blogs, "how-to" books and communities are any indication, rankings are the single most important factor in applicants' decisions on when and where to apply.
For example, one can look at Eric Owens's "Law School Essays That Made a Difference" and notice two glaring pieces of evidence: First, the students whose essays are displayed in the book invariably applied to the highest rated schools within their GPA/LSAT median ranges, implying that the essays may not have had as much of an impact on those applicants' admission(s) to law school as the book suggests.
Secondly, the profiled students have provided lists of the schools they've applied to, and their successful "admits" and denials are shown. Almost every applicant choose the school that, coincidentally, just happens to hold a higher spot in the U.S. News Rankings for the year in which they seek admission. There are a few exceptions, such one female who choses Northwestern over Harvard, but this is a glaring anomally.
For further evidence, visit the online forums Law School Discussion and Top Law Schools, and read the banter that influences students to attend the higher ranked schools.
If one were to believe the chatter, the lower ranked schools are completely inferior to higher ranked ones, one spot in a ranking amounts to a significant difference between schools and the students who attend higher ranked schools are superior to those who go to lower profile schools.
Moreover, students continually give out faulty advice, advising newbies on where to apply after reading only the applicant's GPA and LSAT score. Hence, law applicants, judging by their online activity, are very "numbers-oriented", and there's little reason to believe that these communities form unrepresentative samples.
This is understandable, given that we have been programmed to believe the rankings as arbiters of the hierarchy. Students esteems are wrapped up in the rankings because they view the law schools themselves as paert of a larger community that includes ALL law schools.
The rankings, along with the firms' responses to them in their hiring patterns, establish the "pecking order" among law students. Thus, Harvard, Yale and Stanford students are perceivably the elite group of students that everyone else wishes to be part of.
It's high school all over again, where students from the elite schools get all of the perks, and the students from the bottom of the pile, regardless of what law applicants and students may say, are seen as "outsiders"...not part of the "in-crowd" that will inheret six-figure BigLaw jobs with fat bonuses, prestigious federal clerkships (or high profile public interest jobs that lead to the former), box seats at sporting events, car allowances and high-profile networks.
Why wouldn't an applicant care about these things? But, conversely, why would they admit to being so shallow?

Ivan of WA 1:11AM January 31, 2009

Mr. Morse --
For undergrads (and perhaps for some grad schools), where 'survey-type' sources abound, it is understandable that students would simply include rankings among other influencers. I'm not sure the same would hold true for law schools, where, for good or ill, US News is one of the few survey sources, thus giving them, at least by local observation, distorted perceived value. Thus, I remain troubled by the 40% weight US News continues to give to perceptions of the arguably informed (at least for law school voters assessing the quality of competing law schools).

JRM of CA 2:34PM January 30, 2009