College Rankings?

U.S. News and World Report’s College Rankings

@marinelife‘s list is actually better than mine, so I’ll skip that portion of my post. You don’t want to pay closest attention to national or international rank of universities. What you really want to look into, is the rank of schools offering your specialty. My university probably won’t break the top twenty overall, but it is one of the best universities for engineers and hotel management in the United States.

If you are looking specifically at the rankings provided by publications such as US New and World Report, take a close look at the methodology behind the ranking. For example some of the rankings at USNWR are based mostly on the starting income of graduates. There are a lot of outside factors that cause high starting income so be careful of the methodology of the ranking to get to what you are looking for. Try taking a look at the economist and businessweek who both have lists.

You’ll be better off researching specific programs and people, making contact with professors you’d be studying under and/or working with, and seriously considering how that fits with who you are and what you want from your academic program. Yale may be #1 for law, but if you’re planning on studying biology, that statistic won’t do you any good.

keep in mind that there are some colleges which have lower ranks than others but have some of the best programs for certain subjects.

For example, Humboldt University probably isn’t too high up in the ranks, but it has one of the best environmental studies programs in the country.