Rankings, Surveys & Magazines: The Silly Season Begins
August 16th, 2010by Mark H. Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association
It is this week that U.S. News and World Report releases its best-selling issue of the year: its annual ranking of colleges and universities. Based on criteria that no one thinks is ideal (and few fully comprehend), the result is a week where colleges condemn (when their rankings decline) and others reluctantly cheer (when their rankings rise) and all express bewilderment. Worst of all, students add colleges to their ‘wish lists’ not understanding that much of the criteria that put a school on the list has no consequence to their particular needs, interests, or desires.
This year the non-profit group, American Council of Trustees and Alumni, has released an alternate ranking. Theirs is based on whether colleges provide a well-rounded learning experience based on requiring survey classes in history, literature, writing, science, and more. This group believes that colleges should require such basic general knowledge classes. For example: does a college require a student to take an ancient or modern world history, or can they satisfy this need by taking a course in say, “Evolution of Medical Care in Ancient Civilizations,” as their sole history requirement? At the top of their rankings, no one will find the colleges that top the U.S. News list.
What’s a family to make of this discrepancy? How to evaluate surveys that use reputation over student engagement? Financial reserves over evidence of learning? For many, the real acknowledgment is that the colleges that lead the U.S. News rankings may do so because of who fills their student body; after all, success seems assured when you choose your students body from among the top 2% of college applicants.
Such rankings pop up throughout the year and have begun to wend their way to secondary schools. One respected newspaper touts its annual survey of the “nation’s top high schools.” The list has been taken as gospel by many, reprinted in national magazines. Yet the list is almost exclusively based on a single criterion: the percentage of students taking Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate classes. It does not examine whether students are learning in those classes, nor is there a word about services to those unsuited for AP classes, or measuring demonstrated readiness for college success through an examination of writing skills.
Students and parents will look to the rankings because they are drawn to the simplicity of the charts. The important role that both school-based counselors and educational consultants must play is to ensure that parents understand this simple, direct concept: a college must be evaluated by how well its programs, mission, academic offerings, campus environment, and more, meet the specific needs of one’s own student. Our role in the weeks ahead is educational: inform parents that while it may be nice for a school or college to be in the “top 10,” such a ranking has no direct relevance to them. They need to look beyond the charts and discover whether a school is the right match for their child: does it meet our academic, social, and community needs and desires?
Students exploring potential colleges should not look to see who is rated #1, but rather, does a college I’m looking at succeed not only with students ‘at the top’ (who frankly may succeed anywhere), but with students who learn the way I do; who need a class size that works best for me; that establishes (or not) relationships with professors; that seeks a balance of academics and social life; and a level of peer support or competition—based on what I am looking for, not what works for a magazine editor?
Finally, I know full well that rankings will not disappear. But let’s all pledge to assist parents in understanding the limitations of rankings, and better understand the concept of “fit” and “match” which has driven the mission of the Independent Educational Consultants Association and its nearly 900 members for almost 35 years.

Could we borrow the Institute's format for the college portion of the Ohio conference? Wonderful info.! Lynn Luckenbach
Here are some additional tidbits from the session: Swarthmore - offers evaluative interviews that are given by deans, senior students and ...