Each year, a number of magazines and college guides publish college rankings. Although there tends to be a good deal of similarity in where a college ranks across the various publications, you will find that the different publications will rank any particular school higher or lower than it was in other college ranking guides. For example, a particular school might be ranked Number 1 by one publisher but ranked Number 5 by another. After reading several of these guides you may start to ask yourself the question, "Are ranking systems a good way to pick a college?"

Can I rely on rankings as my primary source of information about a college's reputation?

Answered simply - No!  The rank assigned a particular college or university is a result of how it responded to a series of questions designed by the publisher and the opinions of administrators at other colleges. Some of the questions provide useful information on how well a particular institution compares to other institutions on that question. It does not follow, however that an institution with the highest score - whatever system is used - is the best college.

The concept of the best college is meaningful only when it related to an individual - a prospective student like you. The college or university that most completely meets your individual needs is the best college for you. Deciding which colleges meet your needs is something that cannot be done by looking at ranking systems alone.

So what are the ranking systems good for?

Ranking systems provide one major service for the prospective college student - they make it easy to compare one institution against another on the items used in the particular magazine's ranking methodology.  For example, U.S. News & World Report collects data on colleges and universities in areas such as:

• Graduation rates

• Retention rates

• Middle 50 percent of standardized test scores

• Percent of classes with under 20 students

• Percent of applicants accepted

• Percentage admitted who ranked in the top 10 percent

• Alumni giving financial resources

This information is presented in consistent fashion for each college included in the rankings, but keep in mind rankings change each year. A prospective student can quickly scan the ranking data to see where a particular school stands on a given item like the number of enrolling freshmen who re-enroll for the sophomore year (the retention rate.)

Ranking systems normally group institutions into categories based on their level of study (e.g. two-year programs or four-year programs), educational mission (e.g. liberal arts colleges separately from universities) and by the geographic region in which they are located.  (Some institutions are considered national since they tend to enroll many students from all regions of the country.) You can look up the institution in which you have an interest and determine what other institutions fall into that group.  This will give you a list of comparable institutions worthy of investigation.

So, what is the best source about which colleges are the best?

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to determine which colleges will best meet your needs.  Answering that question requires that you understand what you want from the college experience and that you evaluate each college on how well it will meet your individual needs.

The university with the big name and big reputation may or may not be a good place for you.  Let's suppose that you are successful in gaining admission to a school with 30,000 students and to one with 1,500 students. The social climate on these campuses will be very different.  The smaller school may have smaller classes, more opportunities for participation in sports programs and greater chances of being recognized as a student leader than is the case at a larger institution.  If such things are very important to you, then the smaller institution may be better at meeting your needs than the larger one.

So where do I start?

The old saying, "it's hard to get there if you don't know where you are going," may seem trite, but it's relevant. To be successful in your college search, you must begin by preparing a list of the things you want out of the college experience. Don't be afraid to include soft items like opportunity to form friendships, an intimate campus environment, or a chance to meet people very different from yourself. The list should also include what you think you want in terms of field of study - even if you cannot be precise at this moment. While many students don't know exactly what they will major in while attending college, most have some general idea.

Once you have a list, you can begin to evaluate how each school stacks up in meeting your particular needs. Of course, the process of evaluation will require that you collect information from these colleges in the areas of interest you listed.

Where do I get this information, particularly about the soft side of what I want?