Students Use of Rankings in the College Search Process: Less or More Than We Thought?
by Emily Snyder, IECA Member (Virginia) and Chair, IECA College Committee
In “Inside the College Rankings” in Friday’s US News and World Report, Bob Morse (of the Morse Code), cites the recently released “UCLA Freshman Survey: Fall 2009″ as evidence that students are using a variety of factors—not just national rankings—when making a decision about where to go to college.
The survey asked 219,864 incoming freshman at 297 colleges to rate as many as 22 factors that they considered to be “very important” in influencing their decision to attend a particular college.
The survey results show that financial aid (#3) and cost of attendance (#4) are very important considerations—no surprise given the current economic climate. With other factors, such as campus visits (#5); size (#6); social climate (#7); and location (#9) receiving a higher rating than national rankings (#12—down from #11 last year), it is clear that the groundwork that IECA has laid for educating students and families on making a decision that is right for them has taken hold. Hopefully we won’t have to work as hard to dispel the myth that a university’s national ranking determines it worthiness.
In the data driven age of the 21st century, where statistical comparisons are used for making all kinds of decisions, national education rankings will continue to play a role in most families’ decision-making process. For what it’s worth, in my opinion, to assume otherwise would be shortsighted.
However, as the importance of national rankings shifts, so does our responsibility. Do we even need to continue to debate whether rankings are worthwhile? Can we use this survey as a conversation changer in how we counsel families?
When the conversation surfaces, why not say that rankings are out there, that each one represents one source’s results (and in some cases opinion), and that we would all be better served to focus on the factors that are the most important to each particular student’s situation; let’s be the ones to shift the conversation. The fact that US News is giving coverage to a survey that some could construe as “devaluing” the importance of the national rankings speaks for itself—the timing is right.
The results of the UCLA survey prove that students and families are heeding the advice we provide; something we should all be proud of. It also renews my faith in what we do for students—guide them as they utilize available resources to evaluate their options and make decisions that are right for them.
Related posts:
- College Rankings: Defending the Indefensible
- National Survey Suggests Students Gain Little Help from High School Counselors in College Search
- Rankings, Surveys & Magazines: The Silly Season Begins
- Understanding The Helicopter Parent Phenomenon: A New Book for Educational Consultants Working with Parents and Their College Going Children
- Commentary on College Rankings
The most recent string of snow storms has left no area of lives of those living in the Washington metro area untouched! In an age when almost everything we do happens instanteously, when I blogged about this survey, I never imagined it would be more than a week later before it could be posted. But that’s what several days without power, still unnavigatable roadways, ten foot snow drifts, and closed offices can do — so, while this survey is still newsworthy, there is an article in today’s Washington Post by Daniel de Vise, “Student Survey Boosts Colleges Overshadowed by US News & World Report List” that you may want to read as a follow up.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/14/AR2010021402968.html.