Published by The New York Times
Yale Law School started the exodus last November: Dozens of law and medical schools, many among America’s most elite, vowed not to cooperate with the U.S. News & World Report rankings juggernaut. The publisher’s priority-skewing formula was flawed, administrators complained, as was the notion that schools could be scored and sorted as if they were mattresses or microwaves.
Critics of the rankings dared to hope that undergraduate programs at the same universities would defect, too. But despite generations of private grousing about U.S. News, most of those colleges conspicuously skipped the uprising. Yale, Harvard and dozens of other universities continued to submit data for U.S. News’s annual undergraduate rankings, the 2024 edition of which will be released on Monday.
“It’s been very stable, and that’s a good thing,” said Eric J. Gertler, the executive chairman of U.S. News.
That the rebellion went only so far, for now, has underscored the psychic hold that the rankings have on American higher education, even for the country’s most renowned schools. The rankings remain a front door, an easy way to reach and enchant possible applicants. And their reach goes beyond prospective students since proud alumni and donors track them, too.
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In a move that could deter future revolts, U.S. News said this month that its overall methodology for undergraduate rankings had undergone “greater modifications than in a typical year.”
The changes, most of which the company did not detail publicly, included altering the weights of some factors, placing “a greater emphasis on social mobility and outcomes for graduating college students” and stripping out five factors, including the alumni giving rate and undergraduate class size. Although the changes are unlikely to reshape the top and bottom of the rankings, they could unleash significant shifts for schools that had struggled with, say, persuading graduates to contribute money.
But U.S. News will continue to include its survey of academic leaders, despite years of complaints that it is essentially a popularity contest, swayed by rivalries, biases, slick marketing and perhaps a little horse trading.
Mr. Gertler of U.S. News defended the rigor of the company’s approach and said it was a consumer service.
“We’re focused on helping students make the best decision for their education,” he said.
It is far from clear how many students will notice, or care about, the changes.
Although a recent survey found that nearly three-fifths of college-bound high school seniors “considered” rankings to some degree, more than half reported that colleges put too great an emphasis on them, according to Art & Science Group, a consultancy that works with public and private universities.
Oftentimes, administrators and researchers said, students may use rankings to prepare an initial list of potential matches, but make a final enrollment decision based on other factors — from a financial aid package to a dining hall’s breakfast-for-dinner buffet.
When it comes to rankings, students “seem to be more interested in the neighborhood than in the street address,” said David Strauss, an Art & Science Group principal.