Your Annual Reminder to Overlook the U.S. News & World Report College Rankings
The list’s real purpose is to “exacerbate the status anxiety” of prospective students and parents.
Most Popular
Have Smartphones Demolished a Generation?
- Jean M. Twenge
- Aug Three, 2017
Why the Republican Party Will Come to Regret Rolling Back DACA
When Will Voyager Stop Calling Home?
How America Lost Its Mind
More Than one hundred Exceptional Works of Journalism
- John Tierney
- Sep Ten, 2013
- Education
- Share
- Tweet
- …
The annual college rankings by U.S. News & World Report are out today, and with their release will come a predictable round of excoriating assessments from journalists, college officials, and others. The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson has called this annual chorus a “national carpfest.” Consider mine an early voice in this year’s bray-a-thon.
But, honestly, what’s the point of all this ululating? We might as well rail against Cheetos, soft drinks, lotteries, or articles about the Kardashians. You can bash people over the head with information about how empty, worthless, or bad-for-you some things are, yet lots of folks will still want to consume them. Each of us has some kind of tripe that sustains us. For many, it’s the U.S. News college rankings.
What’s so wrong with the U.S. News rankings? How bad can they be? With the top catches sight of in their “national university” rankings going to places like Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, and the slots a duo hundred places down the list going to the likes of Tempo University or the University of Nevada-Reno, one might figure: Yeah, that sort of fits with my sense of things. So what’s the trouble?
Almost from their inaugural appearance in 1983, the U.S. News rankings have been a popular and effortless target for critics. If you want to delve more deeply into the ranking’s weaknesses, here is a petite sample of the best criticisms over the past fifteen years:
- An essay by Nicholas Thompson in The Washington Monthly, September, 2000.
- A report from the University of Florida’s Center for Measuring University Spectacle, 2002.
- An essay by Colin Diver, then president of Reed College, about the U.S. News rankings, his decision to withhold Reed’s participation in them, and the liberating consequences of that decision, in The Atlantic, November 2005.
- A report from the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, March 2009.
- An essay by Malcolm Gladwell in The Fresh Yorker, February 2011.
And for those of you who just want a sense of what the significant weaknesses are, here’s a brief summary of the faults to which these criticisms typically point:
Your Annual Reminder to Overlook the U
Your Annual Reminder to Overlook the U.S. News & World Report College Rankings
The list’s real purpose is to “exacerbate the status anxiety” of prospective students and parents.
Most Popular
Have Smartphones Demolished a Generation?
- Jean M. Twenge
- Aug Three, 2017
Why the Republican Party Will Come to Regret Rolling Back DACA
When Will Voyager Stop Calling Home?
What Will Hurricane Irma Do Next?
Americans Have Given Up on Public Schools. That’s a Mistake.
- John Tierney
- Sep Ten, 2013
- Education
- Share
- Tweet
- …
The annual college rankings by U.S. News & World Report are out today, and with their release will come a predictable round of excoriating assessments from journalists, college officials, and others. The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson has called this annual chorus a “national carpfest.” Consider mine an early voice in this year’s bray-a-thon.
But, honestly, what’s the point of all this ululating? We might as well rail against Cheetos, soft drinks, lotteries, or articles about the Kardashians. You can bash people over the head with information about how empty, worthless, or bad-for-you some things are, yet lots of folks will still want to consume them. Each of us has some kind of tripe that sustains us. For many, it’s the U.S. News college rankings.
What’s so wrong with the U.S. News rankings? How bad can they be? With the top catches sight of in their “national university” rankings going to places like Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, and the slots a duo hundred places down the list going to the likes of Rhythm University or the University of Nevada-Reno, one might figure: Yeah, that sort of fits with my sense of things. So what’s the trouble?
Almost from their inaugural appearance in 1983, the U.S. News rankings have been a popular and effortless target for critics. If you want to delve more deeply into the ranking’s weaknesses, here is a petite sample of the best criticisms over the past fifteen years:
- An essay by Nicholas Thompson in The Washington Monthly, September, 2000.
- A report from the University of Florida’s Center for Measuring University Spectacle, 2002.
- An essay by Colin Diver, then president of Reed College, about the U.S. News rankings, his decision to withhold Reed’s participation in them, and the liberating consequences of that decision, in The Atlantic, November 2005.
- A report from the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, March 2009.
- An essay by Malcolm Gladwell in The Fresh Yorker, February 2011.
And for those of you who just want a sense of what the significant weaknesses are, here’s a brief summary of the faults to which these criticisms typically point:
Your Annual Reminder to Disregard the U
Your Annual Reminder to Disregard the U.S. News & World Report College Rankings
The list’s real purpose is to “exacerbate the status anxiety” of prospective students and parents.
Most Popular
Have Smartphones Demolished a Generation?
- Jean M. Twenge
- Aug Three, 2017
Why the Republican Party Will Come to Regret Rolling Back DACA
When Will Voyager Stop Calling Home?
What Will Hurricane Irma Do Next?
Americans Have Given Up on Public Schools. That’s a Mistake.
- John Tierney
- Sep Ten, 2013
- Education
- Share
- Tweet
- …
The annual college rankings by U.S. News & World Report are out today, and with their release will come a predictable round of excoriating assessments from journalists, college officials, and others. The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson has called this annual chorus a “national carpfest.” Consider mine an early voice in this year’s bray-a-thon.
But, honestly, what’s the point of all this ululating? We might as well rail against Cheetos, soft drinks, lotteries, or articles about the Kardashians. You can bash people over the head with information about how empty, worthless, or bad-for-you some things are, yet lots of folks will still want to consume them. Each of us has some kind of tripe that sustains us. For many, it’s the U.S. News college rankings.
What’s so wrong with the U.S. News rankings? How bad can they be? With the top catches sight of in their “national university” rankings going to places like Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, and the slots a duo hundred places down the list going to the likes of Rhythm University or the University of Nevada-Reno, one might figure: Yeah, that sort of fits with my sense of things. So what’s the trouble?
Almost from their inaugural appearance in 1983, the U.S. News rankings have been a popular and effortless target for critics. If you want to delve more deeply into the ranking’s weaknesses, here is a petite sample of the best criticisms over the past fifteen years:
- An essay by Nicholas Thompson in The Washington Monthly, September, 2000.
- A report from the University of Florida’s Center for Measuring University Spectacle, 2002.
- An essay by Colin Diver, then president of Reed College, about the U.S. News rankings, his decision to withhold Reed’s participation in them, and the liberating consequences of that decision, in The Atlantic, November 2005.
- A report from the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, March 2009.
- An essay by Malcolm Gladwell in The Fresh Yorker, February 2011.
And for those of you who just want a sense of what the significant weaknesses are, here’s a brief summary of the faults to which these criticisms typically point: