College Rankings Analysis Yields Surprises

Given that so many parents and students find the rankings a valuable resource, it is unfortunate that upon examining the methodology closely, it turns out there are so many significant variables left out of the equations. Variables such as % of legacies admitted, ratio of public-private HS students admitted, % of families above X income level, % students receiving BA vs BS, % of athletic recruitments, % of Nobel Prize Winners, Rhodes Scholars, etc.

Another point that seems to indicated exclusivity and helps boost ranking is the % of admittance rate, which seems to me to be a completely worthless statistic. One could double the amount of applicants in various different ways --such as waiving the application fee, and then have a larger pool of applicants and a lower acceptance rate. A more meaningful statistic I think is the % of applicants who are accepted that commit to coming.

NYC2cents of NY 12:11AM April 05, 2009

It is another American flim-flam job. The public is being duped again. Well, the upper-middle class is being duped since they are the people that deeply care about getting their kids into an Ivy league school(The upperclass folks will send their kids to any school and the middle class will be happy if their kids get into State U.).

How about telling us which schools will give our kids a really good education- the ability to think,read, and write well. And last but not least , do statistical analysis! There are a lot of colleges that are not doing that, including name brand schools.

Lee of CO 9:03PM April 04, 2009