Rankings: Meaningless but Important

While I usually find myself agreeing with most of what Andy and Matthew have to say, and this time is no exception, there are also points on which I disagree with them, so I will offer my own viewpoint. First, I will state where I agree with them.

For the most part, these rankings can be considered meaningless, with the person at school number 30 not receiving any different of an education than the person at school 29 or 31. Also, there are many arbitrary factors that these rankings consider that don't seem like they would really affect the quality of education, and schools also have intangible factors that make them right for some people and not others.

However, just because these rankings may be meaningless, does not mean they are not important. This might seem like splitting hairs, but, as I'm sure most of you are aware, whether something is meaningful, and whether it is considered to be so are often two very different things.

First, I think we can all agree that these rankings are all about image. However, in this case, image is very important. How a school is perceived by prospective students plays a large part in recruiting students. For example, Wash U in St. Louis was not considered a very good school even 15 years ago. However, it has come up a lot in the rankings, which has attracted more students, which has allowed them to be more selective, which has pushed up their rankings even further, etc., etc., etc. This also gives their students more prestige, and more ability to get jobs in later life.

Second, as many people have pointed out, rankings turn into something that is used any way that anyone wants. For example, if a school does well in the rankings, the administration will say, "Oh, look how well we've done in the rankings," but if a school does poorly, they'll say, "Oh, well, rankings don't matter anyway." A school has to decide if their rankings matter or not, and stick to their decision. It can't be important to the school in the good times, and unimportant in the bad ones.

I think many people will agree that we have become an increasingly winner take all society, and while rankings don't really say much about the actual quality of an institution, they do affect the perception of whether you are a "winner" or not, which could have a very important effect on your later life.