U.S. News Rankings Are Out After a Tumultuous Year for Colleges (nytimes.com) 23
An anonymous reader shares a report: Battered by funding cuts, bombarded by the White House and braced for demographic changes set to send enrollment into a nosedive, America's colleges and universities have spent this year in flux. But one of higher education's rituals resurfaced again on Tuesday, when U.S. News & World Report published the college rankings that many administrators obsessively track and routinely malign. And, at least in the judgment of U.S. News, all of the headline-making upheaval has so far led to ... well, a lot of stability.
Princeton University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University retained the top three spots in the publisher's rankings of national universities. Stanford University kept its place at No. 4, though Yale University also joined it there. Williams College remained U.S. News's pick for the best national liberal arts college, just as Spelman College was again the top-ranked historically Black institution. In one notable change, the University of California, Berkeley, was deemed the country's top public university. But it simply switched places with its counterpart in Los Angeles.
Princeton University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University retained the top three spots in the publisher's rankings of national universities. Stanford University kept its place at No. 4, though Yale University also joined it there. Williams College remained U.S. News's pick for the best national liberal arts college, just as Spelman College was again the top-ranked historically Black institution. In one notable change, the University of California, Berkeley, was deemed the country's top public university. But it simply switched places with its counterpart in Los Angeles.
U.S. News? (Score:2)
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At this point they basically only exist as a rankings agency for colleges (and to a lesser extent institutions like hospitals). The paper news publication shut down some time ago.
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Didn't know they were still in business
And what a business it is. Getting colleges and universities to give you their data for free, and then pay you so they can see some data submitted by others, and then pay you even more so they can put a stupid logo on their website, AND get students to pay to see the data submitted by colleges & universities, AND sell advertising on your site, AND get free attention from mass media for your arbitrary "rankings" every year...what a business it is...
Re: Best Liberal Arts. Meh. (Score:3)
"Why is there no ranking of "Best national university for teaching stuff you will use when you leave academia" ?"
Because the Internet would win over every university. All the richest people are college dropouts. Recent graduates have a harder time finding jobs than almost anyone. And graduate salaries aren't really much better than skilled labor, especially if you account for student loans.
If you want to learn how to be productive at a job, skip college and get a fucking job.
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The majority of the 10 richest people in the world graduated from college and many of them have master's degrees.
It's not "all."
Elon Musk - University of Pennsylvania (BA, BS)
Larry Page - University of Michigan (BSE) Stanford University (MS)
Bernard Arnault - École polytechnique
Sergey Brin - University of Maryland, College Park (BS) Stanford University (MS)
Jeff Bezos - Princeton University (BSE)
Steve Ballmer - Harvard University (BA)
Warren Buffett - University of Pennsylvania University of Nebraska (BS)
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Besides that, it's unlikely people like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerburg would have made it where they did had they not at least started college. Being at Harvard brought them credibility and connections that were essential to their start. In Zuck's case, Facebook was literally brought about as a digitization of the college directory.
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If you're someone as brilliant as Steve Wozniak, you'll probably succeed with or without a degree. He quietly went back to UC Berkeley and finished his degree years later under an assumed name.
But the vast majority of people not only are nowhere near as brilliant but have no clue what they actually want to do in life! College is a great place to figure that out.
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Recent graduates have a harder time finding jobs than almost anyone
Those with only a HS diploma have higher unemployment rates than those with a bachelor's degree (or higher). Clearly, if you have a bachelor's degree you would qualify for any job that requires only a HS diploma AND jobs that require a bachelor's degree (depending on some specific area requirements). But many recent graduates are holding out for a better, higher-paying opportunity (which are increasingly hard to find right now).
And the fact is, the economy's in a recession (we just don't know it yet), so
Re: Best Liberal Arts. Meh. (Score:2)
HS diploma holders have a SLIGHTLY higher unemployment rate. And they likely have no debt. And will probably have 4-6 more years of work experience than the college graduates for their entire life.
Remember in this context, were not comparing average high school graduates to average college graduates. We're comparing high school graduates with the motivation to learn on the Internet to college graduates. I imagine if you could suss out a study on those cohorts, you'd find the HS grads outearning the college
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In terms of work experience, many students DO work while they are in college, and nearly all work in the summers; many also have paid internships with companies who want to employ
Re: Best Liberal Arts. Meh. (Score:2)
Nope. I was right. I was talking about recent grads. Not degree holders with 20 years experience.
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age 25-34
Those are recent grads. If you have better numbers, show 'em. Citation needed.
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So rank them by that, so people can choose a useful education.
"After a Tumultuous Year" ? (Score:2)
It hasn't even been a year. It's only been 8 months. Three of those months have been summer break with many universities resorting to layoffs. The students on semester schedules have been in class for around a month. The quarter-system campuses are coming back to class now.
More layoffs are coming. We'll see the true tumult by December 2025/January 2026.
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Annual Rankings (Score:4, Insightful)
Annual rankings never made any sense except as a device to sell magazines. Major universities don't rise and fall meaningfully on an annual basis. In fact, the vast majority never really change their place in the pecking order. It's only something like a mass influx of money or some calamity that is likely to meaningfully change the perceived prestige of a university.
Besides that, ranking schools as a direct competition never made much sense, especially when they have dramatically different offerings and goals. Very, very few students are cross-shopping The Air Force Academy and Pomona College, and yet U.S. News ranks both against each other as "liberal arts colleges." Likewise, someone looking to major in music at Oberlin isn't really comparing to someone looking at a mechanical engineering degree from Colorado School of Mines. Instead, it would make a lot more sense to just sort schools into some broad categories. Something like:
1) Elite private universities (i.e. Harvard, Yale, etc.)
2) Top public flagships (U.C. Berkely, UVA, etc.)
3) Military Academies (shouldn't be ranked against each other or other institutions)
4) Selective private universities and liberal arts colleges (Duke, Pomona college, etc.)
5) Second-tier state schools
6) Less selective private schools
7) Regional commuter schools
8) For profits
But I suppose you don't really need a magazine to tell you which category most fall into.
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Instead, it would make a lot more sense to just sort schools into some broad categories.
I totally understand not bothering to read the article, but they already do this. There are dozens of categories.
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But then they go ahead and rank extensively.
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Yeah , for the most part Academics see them as nonsensical and even harmful. Most Universities will have *something* that makes them desirable. They might be a lower ranked uni in general, but have a world class Nursing program, or perhaps they are more research than student focused (which doesnt make it a bad choice for students, in fact it makes it a great choice for students who want to become researchers) and so on. Where I live, the lowest rated university also has the best Teaching and Music programs