Campus Bound

[#1]

After reading last week’s blog on college rankings, my colleague, Meredith Eastman, had some thoughts to add:

Gregg brought out some important points about college rankings last week; it is essential to research colleges yourself and not simply rely on magazine rankings to determine which school is best for you.  I want to share one example of why it is important to look beyond the rankings.

I was recently helping a student research undergraduate engineering programs.  He wanted a list of colleges in rank order so he could be sure to apply to and ultimately attend the best school for his academic interest.  Cautioning him not to rely entirely on rankings, I helped him find the US News and World Report’s ranking of the best undergraduate engineering schools.

What schools would you expect to see on a list of the best undergraduate engineering programs?  MIT?  CalTech or UC Berkeley? Carnegie Mellon?  Cornell, Duke, or Johns Hopkins?  No, in fact none of those schools were on the list.  Upon closer inspection, this ranking included only those schools that did not offer doctorate degrees.  Turns out, US News and World Report publishes two separate sets of engineering rankings – one for schools with doctorate programs and one for those without.

This is just one example of why it is important to read the fine print and know the methodology behind the rankings.  While many people know that a list of the best engineering schools in the country should include MIT, what if this hadn’t been such an obvious oversight?  What if you were researching the best business, theater, or journalism programs?  Would you know if a ranked list were missing a leading school in your field of interest?

Take Gregg’s comments to heart and be sure to fully understand rankings before making them a part of your college search.