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
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