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college rankings exposed
TM
www.petersons.com
self-promotion. The University of Vermont tried to improve its 127
th
rank-
ing among national universities by sending out a promotional booklet to
the 800 people who complete the reputation survey in its category. "A
good reputation doesn't just happen," said one university official as quoted
by the Chronicle of Higher Education. "When you do good things, you
need to communicate them...or it's like it never happened."
Every year, U.S. News mails out surveys to presidents, who are then
asked to evaluate other colleges within the same category. Presidents of
national liberal arts colleges rate other liberal arts colleges, for example,
while regional institutions critique other institutions within their region.
At face value, it seems reasonable. Fellow educators--those presumably
most knowledgeable about higher education--should know better than
the rest of us which colleges pass muster.
But consider what U.S. News is really asking presidents to do. Those
who head national liberal arts colleges must evaluate approximately 220
institutions from Maine to California, from North Dakota to Florida.
Well-traveled presidents may indeed be familiar with a wide range of
institutions. But they are not
omniscient. Despite 10 years
as a top administrator,
Rothkopf acknowledges he has
"no clue" how to answer the
surveys that are mailed each
year. "For two-thirds of the
colleges, I simply say I don't know. These are the schools I know noth-
ing about."
What about the rest? His responses to the 70 or 80 remaining institu-
tions are based on what he admits is a grab bag of incomplete and often
outdated impressions.
"I'm sort of an old guy so I may know a college from years ago. But
I never visited the campus; I don't really know anything about it. Or in
College rankings distort the
truth about college admissions.
They create a false impression
that there are, in fact, very few
good colleges.
