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I had never thought about college rankings. When I was a sophomore in college, one of my classmates was Robert J. Samuelson, the Washington Post and Newsweek columnist. Of course, at that time he wasn't a columnist at those esteemed publications, but of the campus newspaper. That means he had to edit the drivel of total young would-be journalists like me. It was in the spring of my sophomore year, my first week as a writer.
He looked at my story for a long time. He didn't look pleased as he handed it back to me. 'This is completely wrong,' he said.
Since then, he has become much friendlier to me. Maybe this is because I know some things about him. It might be because I've seen the shocking conditions of his apartment where he lived when he was a bachelor. And I know that, as much as he tries to be a tough and strict dad, he often loses it and breaks down at his kids' bat and bar mitzvahs. So, I guess you could say I know some of his secrets.
I keep up with him as much as possible by reading everything he writes. I really think he is one of the most original thinkers writing in America today. It seems to me that he asks questions that nobody else dares to ask. He usually tackles more controversial issues, but he recently wrote 'In Praise of Rankings', published in the 2005 Kaplan Newsweek College Guide, and I feel that this article is as important as everything else he writes.
There has been a boom of recent writing on college ratings. One of the most read is the US News & World Report's 'America's Best Colleges.' There are all kinds of guides out there, like the Princeton Review's humorous 'Reefer Madness' and 'Dorms Like Palaces' guides. Kaplan Newsweek's 'America's Hottest Colleges' guide is one of the authorities on college ratings.
Every year, college president associations send education reporters like me desperate press releases reminding us that rankings do not always take into account all a college has to offer. Indeed, most of us see them as superficial and unreliable. Still, the ranking matters. It's one things people must pay attention to when they are selecting a college or university to attend. It has to be weighed with everything else.
Recently, Samuelson has been writing about the history of ranking and the changes that have taken place. What he sees is that the system of ranking has taken away from the old standard of brand-name schools. In other words, ranking has done good things for smaller universities. In the old days, Harvard and similar 'brand-name' schools were universally regarded as the best. But, ranking has given other schools the chance to shine.
Because ranking is important, the Kaplan Newsweek Guide is worth taking a look at. Now, you and I both know that I profit if you pay for it, so I'll tell you that you can read it free online. It is available in most major grocery stores, so when you're in a long line waiting forever to checkout, pick up a copy and peruse it before you get up to the cashier, and put it back. I won't tell anyone. Samuelson's piece is usually on page 7.
The Ivy League schools don't have the power they once did. Just having gone to one of these universities no longer looks as good as it once did. One reason for this is the importance of graduate school. Increasingly, it does not matter where you did your bachelors. Employers will look at where you did your graduate work. This means that you can go to your local school wherever that may be, and 'enhance' your prestige by attending a recognized grad school program. According to Samuelson, 392,000 Americans got bachelor degrees in 1960, and 100,000 went on to graduate school. In 2001, the numbers had jumped to 1,200,000 for undergrad and 600,000 for grad school. It is common nowadays for students attending Ivy League schools' graduate programs to have done their undergrad somewhere else.
But an even more intriguing trend is underway. Three decades ago, Samuelson says, we only had a few luxury cars, like Cadillac, Lincoln and Mercedes. Now rising demand for plush upholstery and dashboard gizmos has led to several more high-priced brands, like Lexus, Acura and Infiniti. The same thing is happening to colleges. "Frustrated at not getting their children into elite schools," he says, "Americans are creating more elite schools."
If you look at a school's rating over time, you can see how the system has been changing. Duke Univesity was not even included in the first rankings of the U. S. News list in 1983, but it improved its rating over time and is now in the fifth place. This change tells you something about the school. Throughout the last twenty years, they have been investing more in campus buildings and new faculty.
St. Louis's highly reputable Washington University was not on the list for a long time. It first appeared in 1987, at 23. Now Washington University is ranked at number 11, higher than many Ivy League schools, including Brown and Cornell. How did they do this? They worked hard to improve the school and its image.
The problem with these ratings is that they do not reflect individual aspects of a school. If you are going for a certain major or program, a certain school may be best for you, regardless of its rating. This is why we have to consider many variables when looking at a school's rating. This is the point that Samuelson is trying to make. There are many different aspects to a school, but what generally gives it a good rating is faculty salaries, test scores and the number of its graduates who get accepted to grad schools.
This issue hit home a few years ago when both Samuelson and I had teenage daughters who had their eyes on some famous brand-name universities around Washington DC. These were Ivy League-level schools that would have put he and I in the poor house. Being experts on this sort of thing, we did some research and found a couple of highly rated schools in the sun-belt which we thought would provide a better education (and save some money). Of course, you know who is in charge of this decision, but the girls acquiesced and everyone lived happily ever after.
There is a circular pattern to it all. Many young high school graduates choose to attend highly rated schools, rather than the old Ivy League elite schools, which are costlier and harder to get into. This helps to raise the status of the schools they choose, and they are bumped up higher on the list. The rating system reflects the changes occurring in colleges and universities.
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