There's always controversy with college rankings, the most famous of which is the perpetually-controversial US News system. But if we take rankings for what they are - a general indicator of a school's quality and not the be-all, end-all of college admissions guides - they can give us valuable information about a school.

And now we've got a brand new ranking system from Forbes.com.

Richard Vetter, who helped design Forbes' index, explains why these rankings exist in the first place:

"...the failure of colleges themselves to provide virtually any information on the value that they add to their student’s knowledge, critical thinking skills, moral character, leadership qualities or any positive attribute forces the public to look to outsiders for evaluations. Accreditation agencies could do this, but being controlled by the colleges themselves, they provide little meaningful information to the public, since accreditation reveals little about institutional quality."

Much of the criticism of the U.S. News rankings comes from their methodology. Forbes has tried to correct this:

"In U.S. News’s rankings, reputation and resources are critical to a high ranking. Indeed, ranks are enhanced by spending more per student, paying faculty higher salaries, or getting more alumni to donate. Generally speaking, the rankings are reputational and input-based. The Forbes’s rankings are much more outcomes oriented (e.g., emphasizing student satisfaction with instruction and postgraduate vocational success of alums), also ranking schools higher when students leave with a lower debt burden."

And the Forbes results are a little different:

"For example, among the national research universities, six of the top 15 schools in the U.S. News rankings did not make the Forbes top 15 — University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, Dartmouth College, Washington University in St. Louis, Cornell, and Johns Hopkins. Forbes’s top 15, however, includes Brown, Rice, Brandeis, Boston College, Tufts and the University of Virginia. Northwestern and Washington University in St. Louis are tied for 12th in U.S. News, but Forbes ranks Northwestern much higher (6th vs. 33rd) than Wash U among national research universities."

Reactions are varied:

The American Council of Alumni and Trustees has welcomed the rankings - with the usual caveats.

College Admissions Partners asks, "Can it get any more absurd?"

AdmissionsAdvice.com likes the hidden gems and surprises.

The President of Trinity Washington University considers the Forbes rankings nothing short of parody.

I won't call Forbes' methodology perfect - it surely isn't - but I'm glad we have access to a different ranking, especially one that takes into account success after graduation. If we went to a doctor for a serious illness, we'd probably want a solid second opinion no matter the diagnosis. It isn't much different with researching colleges.

So, welcome to the rankings game, Forbes - good to have you here. We'll all be taking your rankings *** grano salis, but we do appreciate the information and the alternative.

And remember, you can use CollegeFinder to research schools based on location, major, degree programs, reputation and more.

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09-01-2008 3:45 AM

I won’t call Forbes’ methodology perfect - it surely isn’t - but I’m glad we have access to a different ranking, especially one that takes into account success after graduation. If we went to a doctor for a serious illness, we’d probably want a solid second opinion no matter the diagnosis. It isn’t much different with researching colleges.