College Rankings...Forget Them

Recently an article appeared in USA Today about how some colleges and universities are planning not to participate in college ranking surveys. The topic of college surveys has always fascinated so much my original doctoral dissertation was going to attempt to rank Sport Administration/Management programs. As I started to do the background research, I became convinced that many of the popular rankings that are sold to the American public use very questionable methodology. And after working in college admissions, I could see first hand how schools try to increase their appearance of being selective by playing with the numbers when it comes to admitting, deferring and denying students. All-in-all I learned not to put much stock in the popular rankings.

As a private admission counselor, I try to counsel students and his or her parents on how to not get caught up in the rankings game. Its hard, because everyone wants the opportunity to brag about where they are going to school and all it's wonderful attributes, but the reality is almost all schools have 'brag-worthy' qualities. So regardless of where you choose, you will likely find something unique to talk about when it comes to your school and/or experience.

Choose to attend a school because you truly want to go there. Yes, the name of an institution sometimes can open doors for you, but if you are not talented, successful, or with a good work ethic, it won't matter what school you went to because no one is going to want to work with you anyway. I believe you should spend your college years learning to become the person you want to be in the professional world, instead of trying to plan on how you can name drop your school to make things happen.