March 04, 2022

Do You Know How Colleges and Universities are Ranked Each Year? What the Rankings Measure May Surprise You. It Is Time to Rethink the Idea of “Best Colleges”

38 minutes

# 083 – Today, I uncover the fallacy of common methods of ranking colleges and universities. On any day, it is very common to hear talk about so-called best colleges, top colleges, ranked colleges, highly-ranked colleges, top-10 colleges, etcetera. These designations are usually based on rankings published every year, mostly by newspapers and magazines, such as, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and The U.S. News & World Report, as well as The Princeton Review, better known for providing test prep and tutoring services. On this episode I shed light on the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Rankings, the most popular of all. I begin the episode by going over what most people believe the rankings indicate, namely, that the higher a college or university ranks, the better the quality of education students receive in those institutions. At least, that is what a logical person would gather after hearing the term “Best Colleges Rankings.” As the episode progresses, I go over some of the factors used in the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Rankings, and allow you to gauge for yourself whether these rankings should be taken seriously. Prepare to be surprised. Although I do not go over all the factors, it is very easy to see that the factors that are given the most weight in the rankings, are highly subjective, in which college administrators are asked to give their opinions about other colleges and universities, even those they have never visited before. You will also find it easy to see that the factors that are more objective, meaning that they are based on data, are factors that cannot be used to determine the level of quality of education in any institution. Please visit our episode webpage at https://collegemetropolis.com/83 for sources used or mentioned on this episode, including the U.S. News & World Report, Colleges That Change Lives, and ChallengeSuccess. Please help us by giving us a 5-star rating and leaving us a positive review. That kind gesture would be very helpful to our podcast and would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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