The U.S. News and World Report rankings of colleges have in the past few years fostered a great deal of discussion, argument, and controversy.
Proponents of the rankings say rankings give college applicants a way to compare schools in terms of admissions statistics (acceptance rate, yield, etc), reputation, and other factors such as graduation rates and alumni donations. The rankings not only provide such information, but also let students compare schools and understand their hierarchy in a way more efficient and fair than reading college brochures and listening to the grapevine.
Those who fight against rankings argue that different students have different criteria when searching for a college, and that a uniform ranking encourages students to ignore subjective factors such "feel," campus atmosphere, school size, program offerings, etc. Critics also argue that the rankings force colleges to make bad admissions decisions - for instance, being reluctant to take a chance on an artistic student with low SAT scores for fear of hurting their rankings statistics.
In the midst of this debate, it's sometimes hard to understand whether the rankings have any use and, if so, what a student can do to use them effectively.
The best course is probably to pay attention to the rankings - including both the statistics they provide and the overall order of schools - but to use them as more of a tool than as a final method of selecting a college. While a school's "feel," location, and other subjective factors are indeed important, it's not irrelevant to know how hard it is to get into a school and how highly other students covet admission there. Those factors, including the reputation of a college, help determine not only what types of students you'll meet but also how the world (including employers and graduate schools) will treat your degree.
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