University Rankings
By Samier Saeed
Westminster, CA

18,316 applicants applied to Brown University last year, up from the 16,911 who applied the year before that. Of the applicants who applied two years ago, 2,587 were admitted, and of those who applied last year 2,5551.
36,559 students applied to attend UCLA in the Fall of 2005 and of those, 10,239 applicants were admitted. Around the same number were admitted for Fall 2007 out of 43,182 applicants2.
These statistics illustrate a harsh reality for students vying to get into top universities: The number of applicants increases every year, but the number of those admitted does not. Why, one might ask, focus on top universities such as those and what exactly accounts for the yearly increase in applicants? Whereas population growth and the increased value of post-secondary education in the workplace may account for the latter, many in the education community believe the underlying causes for both are college rankings.
These dissenters, mostly deans and presidents of institutions who feel that their colleges are being overlooked by rankings, are disheartened by the fact that students tend to focus on applying to the most prestigious and famous colleges they can without taking time to truly explore their choices. Furthermore, many administrators take issue with the statistics gathered in college ranking surveys. As the President of Amherst College, Anthony Marx, says: "Evaluating education in a way that rewards institutions for building Jacuzzis and rock walls as much as for investing in what happens in the classroom is a system that is leading us in the wrong direction.” Robert Weisbuch, the President of Drew University, agrees: “We’ve created a monster”3. They are not just a disgruntled minority; even the Vice President and Secretary of Princeton University, which has been ranked number one by US News and World Report for seven years consecutively, Bob Durkee has pointed out that rankings are only part of choosing the right college. Durkee suggests that students should “look on the schools' websites and talk to students that go there or their guidance counselors”4.
The idea that rankings should be done away with has begun to garner more support recently, and has taken on a new form. The Education Conservancy, a non-profit organization, has organized a letter campaign urging administrators at colleges and universities not to fill out surveys for rankings, particularly those of US News and World Report5. Nevertheless, the number of universities who support rankings still remains large. In addition, US News and World Report has been said to make up statistics regarding colleges who refuse to give their information and lower the college’s ranking. Therefore, any movement that seeks to abolish rankings through non-participation must make sure it is mass non-participation. If the most famous and prestigious universities do not cooperate, the movement will fail because, as Peter Sacks of The Huffington Post says, “A Harvard or a Princeton could go on blissfully ignoring the damage the [rankings are] doing to higher education because these institutions are the main beneficiaries of the US News worldview”. Sacks believes that in order for the movement to succeed “the UC system and the elite private universities on the East Coast to stop playing the U.S. News rankings game." 6
What should students make of this issue, which seems to be more of a debate within the educational community itself? Although there are students who are attracted to the idea of attending small, private universities there are more who seek admission into top institutions so that they have an advantage in securing the best jobs, and in order to, of course, receive the best education they can get. This is where the main support for rankings lies; the students. If people didn’t buy the rankings, then magazines which do the ranking, such as US News and World Report, wouldn’t be so eager to keep producing them. Since rankings are important to students, and because those who disagree with them also present certain valid arguments, Mr. Durkee’s advice is especially important: Students should consider rankings as part of their college selection process, but keep in mind that there are other things which make universities what they are
1 Brown University Website
2 UCLA Website
3 The College Rankings Revolt TIME
4 Universities Oppose College Rankings The Daily Princetonian
5 Rankings Face Backlash from College Presidents USA Today
6 America's Best College Scam The Huffington Post

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