Why College Rankings Are a Joke
Frank Bruni SEPT. 17, 2016
Shortly before the newest U.S. News & World Report college rankings came out last week, I got a fresh glimpse of how ridiculous they can be — and of why panicked high school seniors and their status-conscious parents should not spend the next months obsessing over them.
I was reporting a column on how few veterans are admitted to elite colleges and stumbled across a U.S. News sub-ranking of top schools for veterans. Its irrelevance floored me. It merely mirrored the general rankings — same institutions, same order — minus the minority of prominent schools that don’t participate in certain federal education benefits for veterans.
It didn’t take into account whether there were many — or, for that matter, any — veterans on a given campus. It didn’t reflect what support for them did or didn’t exist.
more
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/opinion/sunday/why-college-rankings-are-a-joke.html?ref=opinion
