College Rankings: What They Mean to You
You’re trying to decide which college is the best fit for you. Your first instinct may be to read all the well-known studies, reports and publications that rank colleges. However, before you review these listings, consider what a college's ranking really means for you.
What Are College Rankings?
Ranking means setting items (for example, colleges) in an order based on chosen criteria. Think of it as a formula. Each important feature of the items (such as average class size) is examined and given a point value. Usually, the higher the total number of points, the higher the item is ranked.
Creating a ranking system can be very complex in any field. And trying to understand what the rankings tell us can also be complicated. This is true in education, too, because what is most important to one student may not be important at all to another.
College rankings are often divided into categories to make them more useful. An organization might rank all undergraduate colleges, or only those in a particular field, such as liberal arts or engineering. Other groups rank colleges based on how selective they are, the size of their endowment, the number of faculty members they have, or student scores for their incoming class.
Because rankings can be based on different factors, a college could be number 15 under one ranking system and number 135 under another. Also, a college’s rank can change significantly from year to year — the college that is number 11 on a list one year may be number 38 the next.
Using Rankings to Help You Decide
Although rankings give you useful information, they should not dictate which college you choose. You can only determine which college is best for you by considering your specific needs.
Rankings tend to evaluate and compare institutions in general. They can’t predict what you may experience at a particular college. Your experience will be based on a major, a program, a dorm and the professors whose classes you take.
Very few colleges gather data on how much their students learn — which is really what you need to know. You may find the student retention and graduation rates more relevant than the ranking a college receives on a list.
If you have very specific goals, it may pay to look at ranking systems that relate directly to your needs. For example, you may want to know the student pass rate on the nursing licensure exam after degree completion. If you’re a football player and you hope to turn pro, you’ll find rankings based on the quality of the college football team useful. This feature is not likely to affect the experience you have pursuing a biology degree, but it’s critical information to athletes.
Important Factors to Consider
When researching colleges, you should consider these questions before looking at rankings:
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What are my priorities and interests?
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What are my career goals?
- What needs do I have, especially if I'm going to attend a college away from home or even out of state?
Getting started is easy. Read more about beginning your college search and get tips on how to find your college match.
Then you can create a college list for yourself that includes campuses that meet your academic and personal needs.
Once that list is complete, thoroughly research those colleges and create your own rankings based on what’s important to your success.
