Student Loan Blog : College Rankings

Student-Ranked Top Colleges and Other Tools to Help You Find the Right Fit

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 20:38:00 GMT

If you’re in high school and looking ahead to college, you probably already know all about U.S. News & World Report’s annual “America’s Best Colleges,” which ranks colleges and universities around the country. These rankings can give you a great place to start, but if your college search revolves entirely around this list, you’re throwing yourself at the mercy of only one corporation’s definition of “best.”

The “best” school for a potential geneticist may have a stellar biosciences faculty but no intramural sports—if you’re an aspiring genetic engineer who unwinds with regular competitive basketball games, you might want to ask yourself if you would be happy there for four or more years.

If rankings are important to you in making your college decision, consider expanding your search to include other “best” lists that go beyond just academics, that might be able to give you a sense of the campus, the town, the personality of the students, and of whether or not you’ll fit in and enjoy your life there.

The Princeton Review Best Colleges: Students Rate Their Own Campuses

Find out what current students think about their own schools and get various bests (and worsts) for every personality type with The Princeton Review’s Best 366 Colleges. The 2008 edition of The Princeton Review’s annual rankings surveys more than 120,000 students on 366 campuses.

You won’t find any “top schools” overall here. As The Princeton Review explains in one of their answers to an FAQ, “We don’t believe that any one school is the best overall. … Some colleges in our book may be ideal for some students but wrong for others, depending on their interests and needs.”

Instead, the survey results serve up the top 20 schools in each of 62 categories like:

Best Campus Food: Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA)
Is It Food?: U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, NY)
Dorms Like Palaces: Smith College (Northampton, MA)
Dorms Like Dungeons: U.S. Coast Guard Academy (New London, CT)
Best Classroom Experience: Reed College (Portland, OR)
Most Long Lines and Red Tape: Tuskegee University (Tuskegee, AL)
Biggest Frat & Sorority Scene: DePauw University (Greencastle, IN)
Students Most Nostalgic for Ronald Reagan: Warren Wilson College (Asheville, NC)
Students Most Nostalgic for Bill Clinton: Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, CA)
Most Diverse Student Body: Temple University (Philadelphia)
Most Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians: Hampshire College (Amherst, MA)
Best College Radio Station: St. Bonaventure University (St. Bonaventure, NY)
Where Intercollegiate Sports Are Unpopular or Nonexistent: New College of Florida (Sarasota, FL)
Where Students Pack the Stadiums: University of Maryland (College Park, MD)

You can find the complete Princeton Review student rankings free online, or buy a copy of the book (list price $21.95). In addition to the rankings and two-page profiles on each of the 366 schools, the book version has a new section with lists of “Great Colleges for 15 of the Most Popular College Majors.”

Other Online Resources and Rankings

For more student rankings and other “best” categories, check out these sites:

Campus Dirt’s Top Ten Lists: Toughest Classes, Easiest Freshman Parking, Most “Wired” Campus, Most Options for Late-Night Food, Where Lectures Are Related to the “Real World,” …
Students Review: University & College Rankings: Top Engineering Schools, Top Schools for Smart People, Top Creative Schools, Top Ivies, Biggest Reputation, …
College Rankings by College Prowler: Grades schools A through F on things like parking, nightlife, weather, guys, girls, campus strictness, and local atmosphere
The Templeton Guide to Colleges That Encourage Character Development: 405 exemplary programs in 10 categories like Volunteer Service, Academic Honesty, Spiritual Growth, and Civic Education

First-Hand Accounts and Campus Tours

Besides doing your reading and online research, ask around. Your friends may know former students who can give you a first-hand opinion of the school you’re interested in.

One of the best ways to get a feel for a campus and the student life is to visit. If you can’t afford the travel costs to check out the campus for yourself, try a virtual campus visit at CampusTours.com or College-Visits.com to get a better feel for what your college life might actually be like once you’re on campus.

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America’s “Best” Colleges of 2008: Strategies for College-Bound Students to Compose Their Own List

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:00:00 GMT

Once again, U.S. News & World Report’s latest ranking of colleges and universities received hordes of criticism and its yearly flogging from university presidents and officials who take issue with the magazine’s grading system. Even despite the effort of a small group of college presidents to initiate a boycott of the magazine’s survey, school participation only diminished by seven percent this year.

Touted as having the most sought-after lists of academic rankings, U.S. News compiles 25 percent (the largest portion) of its survey from college officials’ ratings of their fellow institutions. The legitimacy of these rankings, particularly those of colleges and universities, comes under fire every year, with some administrators arguing that the ranking methods lead to distorted or spurious evaluations among competing schools attempting to vault themselves up in the standings.

As more and more students graduate high school with their eyes set on higher education, the notion of what makes a college the “best” or the “right” school for a larger and increasingly diverse pool of applicants becomes all the more complicated.

While the U.S. News listings carry a certain authority after having been around for 24 years, rank-watchers should bear in mind that the rating methodology only accounts for a few, measurable dimensions of college “quality.” There are plenty of intangibles that go into defining a total college experience, and parents and students should consider expanding the criteria for their search beyond just a ranking to get at what the numbers in a magazine can’t tell you.

· First-hand accounts. Your parents and siblings are probably more than willing to talk about their alma mater, so sit them down to get the inside scoop. Use your Facebook and MySpace time to scour groups and photos from the schools on your list and to chat with current students about their school’s programs and social activities.

· See for yourself. If you can, visit the schools on your list. Those pretty pictures on the brochure won’t give you the feel of what the midday rush is like on the quad. Explore on your own in addition to guided tours, to get a sense of the general vibe of the campus and surrounding areas. Pick up a copy of the college newspaper or check it out online. Read what other students are reading, writing, debating and thinking, and ask yourself—would you fit in here?

· No one school is good at everything. Top-50 NYU is a terrific choice if you’re an aspiring actor that wants in to their nationally renowned Tisch School of the Arts. But if you see yourself joining the Peace Corps or traveling all over the world as a service volunteer, your perfect path may be the Pre-Peace Corps, International, and Non-Governmental Service concentration offered at Tier 3 Warren Wilson College in Asheville, N.C.

If you’re interested in a particular major or career track, you can search schools by field of study at Petersons.com. Browse school websites to get a feel for how certain departments operate, what kinds of classes are offered, and contact professors within the department to see what kind of research is being done.

Other Sources of Information

The U.S. News rankings provide a decent starting point for getting a general idea of how big-name schools compare in certain areas, but they don’t offer in-depth information or the insider’s view that would give you an idea of what day-to-day life is like on campus.

Sites like CollegeBoard.com let you search schools by location, major and cost, just to name a few, and they offer tips for planning your college career and preparing for admissions. These sites are easy to navigate and will allow you to compare your schools across specific categories..

For your parents, we recommend The Thinking Parent’s Guide to College Admissions: The Step-by-Step Program to Get Kids Into the Schools of Their Dreams.

Talk to the education finance advisors at NextStudent. They have all the information and advice you need on student loans. Check out www.nextstudent.com.

Student Loan Girl

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College Rankings Go Global

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 21:19:00 GMT

Strangely enough, just as universities in the United States are starting to question the validity of college rankings such as those published by U.S. News & World Report, colleges around the globe are starting to want to get in on the craze.

According to an April 18, 2007 article written by Martin Van Der Werf, titled “As College Rankings Catch On Worldwide, Report Calls for More Analysis and Cooperation,” that appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, “College rankings like those published by U.S. News & World Report are spreading across the globe in response to customer demand, but they vary widely in what they try to measure and how they measure it, says a new report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy.”

Call for Global Cooperation among College Ranking Researchers

Apparently, the reason that the ranks trend is catching on is because it is being touted as another form of accountability; however, at the same time the Institute for Higher Education Policy also is calling for research into how and if these ranks affect the quality of higher education.

In his article, Van Der Werf quoted Jamie P. Merisotis, the president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, as saying, “‘Magazine and newspaper ranking systems have clearly emerged as the third dimension of the higher-education accountability marketplace, complementing what takes place through private accreditation and government regulation. With more than 20 different nations now engaged in some form of rankings that are regularly published, it is clear they are popular and here to stay.’”

How Are the Rankings Compiled?

Over the years, U.S. News & World Report has updated and changed the way that it ranks colleges; however, there is still some concern that its method may be too simple. Van Der Werf reported, “The U.S. News rankings, first published in 1983, have acquired a long list of campus-based detractors who find them simplistic. They have been updated several times, and now use data in six general areas, and combine that information with results from a survey of the perceived quality of institutions to come up with an overall rank.”

The report, consisting of three different papers, is titled “College and University Ranking Systems: Global Perspectives and American Challenges.” In his article, Van Der Werf outlined the three papers as such:

“One is a history of the U.S. News rankings written by Alvin P. Sanoff, who was managing editor of the rankings from 1992 to 1998. He says the rankings began as a marketing device for the magazine, but captured the public’s attention in a way unforeseen by the editors, primarily because of the increasing cost of higher education and the desire by students and parents to differentiate between colleges.

“Another paper, by Alex Usher and Massimo Savino, both of the Educational Policy Institute, summarizes both the major rankings in other countries and the growing trend toward comparing universities across borders to arrive at international rankings.

“The final paper, by Marguerite Clarke, argues that rankings have increased the stratification of higher education because universities, attempting to better their places, use their limited financial aid to ‘buy’ higher quality students. Poorer, less prepared students will therefore be consigned to attend less selective institutions. Ms. Clarke is an international education consultant, and an adjunct lecturer in education at Flinders University, in Australia.”

It is important to keep up to date on student loan news. What goes on in government and in your state can have a great impact on your student loans and your college education.

For all the information you need about student loans, go to www.nextstudent.com.

Be sure to tune in next Wednesday for my next blog on student loan legislation in the news.

Student Loan Girl

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Fake Data From U.S. News & World Report’s College Rankings?

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 15:25:00 GMT

In the past few years, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding U.S. News & World Report’s yearly college issue, “America’s Best Colleges” and the rankings of the colleges. Many are saying the rankings and the methodology used are inaccurate at best and slanted at worst. I remember a New York Times article saying that the rankings may be based more on endowments, as Harvard, Yale and Princeton tend to end up in the top three slots and also have the largest endowments.

Today I came across an article by Scott Jaschik titled “Would U.S. News Make Up Fake Data?” found in the March 12, 2007 edition of Inside Higher Ed. Apparently, colleges are starting to take a stand by speaking out against U.S. News & World Report’s methods. According to the article, “It’s not unusual for college presidents to complain about U.S. News rankings (at least out of the earshot of U.S. News editors). But on Sunday, the president of Sarah Lawrence College publicly charged that the magazine is preparing to publish made up, false data about her institution.”

Controversy Stems from Assumptions

What is going on here is that since Sarah Lawrence College “no longer collects or examines SAT scores, U.S. News officials have said that the magazine will just assume that the average SAT would have been one standard deviation (about 200 points) below the average of Sarah’s Lawrence’s peers. ‘In other words, in the absence of real data, they will make up a number,’ wrote [Michele Tolela] Myers,” as stated in the article. Myers is president at Sarah Lawrence. Many college administrators claim that the magazine unfairly penalizes schools that do not submit such data as “reputational” surveys and SAT scores, as is the case with Sarah Lawrence.

The article stated that “Bob Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, praised Sarah Lawrence and said it was taking a principled stand. ‘The U.S. News policy of fabricating data for colleges which refuse to report average scores it is both unfair and unethical,’ he said, adding that the ‘practice further undermines the credibility of the magazine’s already widely criticized rankings.’”

Organized Effort to Combat ‘Ranksteering’

On the heels of Myer’s stand is one by several colleges to band together and defend “educational values” over misleading and unfair rankings. The article reported:

“A new effort is being organized to allow colleges to act in concert so that they fight back against the rankings. Some of the inspiration for this new effort came in January, when Lloyd Thacker, founder of the Education Conservancy, gave a presentation to the Council on Independent Colleges called ‘Ranksteering: Driving Under the Influence.’ Thacker’s organization argues that the college admission process has become divorced from educational values and ‘ranksteering’ is his term for the impact of U.S. News and other rankings.

“The presentation prompted a group of 10 presidents to work on a letter — currently circulating among them — outlining strategies that could be used to take on the rankings. The presidents’ idea is to send the letter to all Council on Independent Colleges members (more than 570 institutions) to try to build a movement with the clout to be effective. Among the ideas in the letter: refusing to provide any help to U.S. News, refusing to fill out the ‘reputational’ survey, pledging not to advertise any rankings they receive from U.S. News, and/or posting a prominent statement on their Web sites noting the dubious qualities of many ratings.”

I always wondered just how fair these rankings are, and now it seems the truth is coming out. Hopefully, this initiative started by the 10 college presidents will go far in encouraging college students to do their own due diligence when researching college options, instead of relying on a potentially flawed ranking system.

Talk to the education financial advisors at NextStudent. They have all the information and advice you need on student loans. Check out www.nextstudent.com.

Be sure to tune in next Tuesday for my next blog about this week in student loans.

Student Loan Girl

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