It\u2019s a fascinating phenomenon, the ranking of colleges. U.S. News & World Report has turned this phenomenon into a cash cow by publishing annually a ranking of the top American undergraduate institutions. What a distinctly American thing to do. We can\u2019t just have a general assessment of where things are, like in other countries. For example, Cambridge has no inherent \u201cranking score\u201d attached to it, though everyone knows that it\u2019s an elite institution. No, it\u2019s the frothy Americans with their endless competitive games who must tell one another whose pedigree is best. We who rank cars, microwaves, baseball teams, and the like must of course score those institutions that forever carry our affection, command our dollars, and augment our resumes.<\/p>\n
But how much do these rankings really matter, you ask? Some are going to scoff about them and say that many don\u2019t pay them any mind. That may be true for some, but for many, myself included, rankings are quite important. When I applied to schools, one of the first places I looked was U.S. News. Now, that\u2019s not all bad, necessarily. One need not be dominated by rankings, and they can be a useful tool to determine school\u2019s strength, if an inexact one. But one can also be motivated to pore over them by sinful pride. I\u2019m sure that was a good part of my interest, regrettably. And yet I must say that even now I still check.<\/p>\n
The very idea that you can rank an institution<\/em>\u2013such a grand entity, in some ways difficult to get one\u2019s arms around everything\u2013is just great. As said above, it\u2019s amusingly American. \u201cWhat\u2019s the best city, Bob?\u201d \u201cOne sec, Ron\u2026ummmm\u2026Chicago!\u201d \u201cGee, thanks, Bob!\u201d And there it is. Chicago is the best city. Well, we can all see the amusing nature of such a ranking, and yet we are also drawn to such things. That\u2019s all on this one\u2013I\u2019ve got to go purchase the top-ranked microwave\u2013it\u2019s unanimous.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s a fascinating phenomenon, the ranking of colleges. U.S. News & World Report has turned this phenomenon into a cash cow by publishing annually a ranking of the top American undergraduate institutions. What a distinctly American thing to do. We can\u2019t just have a general assessment of where things are, like in other countries. For […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13035],"class_list":["post-73","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n