COLLEGE RANKING CRITERIA The U.S. News and
World report ranks colleges by taking into account various things
like academic reputation and financial resources. SOURCE: U.S. News
and World Report Original graphic by ADAM BROWN and BARBARA
ORTUTAY/Daily Bruin. Web adaptation by CHRISTINE TAN
By Monique Simpson
Daily Bruin Contributor
When Larnell Ferrell took a class at Yale he noticed his books
were the same as at UCLA, even though the two are ranked 23 spots
apart in the 2001 U.S. News and World Report college ranking.
“I don’t think ranking matters,” said Ferrell,
a fourth-year mathematics student. “It’s about the
programs and departments at each school.”
Though Ferrell said when he applied to colleges he did not give
much attention to the rankings, many high school students look to
them as the final word in where to apply.
This year, UCLA is ranked as the 25th best national university
and as the third best public university. Princeton University was
ranked first this year.
But as the list was being released, questions again arose over
the legitimacy of the U.S. News’ annual ranking.
“We don’t pay great attention to the ranking,”
said UC spokesman Chuck McFadden. “We view ranking as one of
the many things prospective students and parents take in
consideration.”
In the September issue of The Washington Monthly, editor
Nicholas Thompson criticized the ranking for having several serious
problems, such as not measuring students’ actual learning and
deliberately placing Ivy League colleges at the top.
But U.S. News maintains the rankings are nonpartisan and that
they fairly ranks colleges according to the magazine’s
methodology.
“Once we pick how we are going to conduct the ranking,
what happens happens,” said Richard Folker, a spokesman for
U.S. News.
Folker added that the magazine prides itself on presenting
unbiased reports.
“We’re journalists first of all. Being objective is
primary,” Folker said.
Though McFadden dismissed the ranking, when both UCLA and UC
Berkeley fell out of the top 25 best national universities in 1996,
UC President Richard Atkinson sent a letter to the UC Board of
Regents explaining what he thought were the reasons for the
drop.
Atkinson stated in the letter that “the College Guide is
popular and affects how universities are viewed, so when our
campuses drop in the ranking we want to understand why.”
But he attributed the low ranking more to the magazine’s
methodology than to the institutes themselves.
Much as UC officials have varied in their response to the
ranking, students have done so as well.
According to the American Freshmen survey, conducted by the UCLA
Higher Education Research Institute, the rankings do not greatly
influence students’ decisions.
The 1999 study showed only 7.5 percent of the surveyed students
viewed ranking in national magazine as very important.
According to the survey, 47.6 percent of students considered
college reputation as very important and 44.6 percent considered
what graduates go on to do after college as very important.
“Looking at these small statistical number, there’s
no clear trend,” said William Korn, Associate Director of
Operations at the institute.
Melina Duenas, a first-year biology student, agreed that the
ranking is not the only determining factor when choosing a
college.
“I looked at the ranking of the departments, articles in
newspapers, and listened to my counselor,” Duenas said.
In addition, some students prefer to look at the college’s
reputation.
Orlly Solis, an undeclared first-year student from Mexico, said
UCLA’s global recognition was more important than magazine
ranking.
“UCLA is known worldwide,” Solis said.
Even students who know there is controversy about its
credibility still use the ranking to help them select a
college.
If the college was ranked too low or too high, Jon Frank, a
first-year biochemistry student, said he didn’t apply to the
college.
“I didn’t apply to UCSB because it was ranked
low,” Frank said.
Whatever critics have to say about the ranking, U.S. News plans
to continue publishing the annual college ranking, leaving its
readers to decide the worth of individual colleges and the
ranking.