US News would unquestionably be at the top of several websites that rate colleges were compiled into a list. After all, it is generally agreed upon that the college ranker headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia, is the most comprehensive and well-respected of its type. Even though many high school students planning to attend college rely on it, this does not imply that it is error-free. Let us know ‘Colleges Game Us News’.
Colleges Game Us News
In general, universities will try to cheat the methodology used by US News (or another college-ranked player) by either lying more about the information they supply or selectively choosing the data they provide. Some people attempt to manipulate data in various ways, such as requiring students to repeat standardized tests like the ACT or SAT or delaying the admission of candidates with poor test scores.
Do Colleges Game Us News?
The release of rankings, however, does not signal the end of work for US News; just the contrary. The popular college rating website says it will keep an eye on the information it receives, improve the measures it employs, and close any gaps it finds to prevent false results.
Do not give up on this article if you are disheartened by the realization that Us News and the other college rating websites you depend on are not entirely accurate. In this post, we will respond to critical concerns that students who are presently compiling a list of colleges have on their thoughts.
What Criteria Does US News Use to Rate Colleges?
The US News
US News compiles its rankings of regional and national colleges and universities by using the same criteria and assigning equal weight to each of those criteria. These rankings are based on data supplied by the main college ranking website. Considerations like completion and reduced turnover, academic reputation, faculty, and financial concerns are among those that carry the most significant weight.
As of the 2020–2021 school year, the United States was home to over 3,567 degree-granting colleges and universities, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
Out of them, 2,278 institutions (or 63%) were four-year colleges or universities that offered programs leading to bachelor’s degrees or higher.
Only 1,466 US schools offering at least bachelor’s degree programs were considered for US News rankings for 2022. It means that the college ranking website evaluates less than half of the degree-awarding schools that high school students, both within and outside of the United States, can attend after completing their secondary education.
When compiling a list of potential colleges, students may consider various criteria before deciding whether or not to include a particular institution. When assessing colleges and universities, US News also finds several other aspects.
The following is a list of those factors, along with the weights that correlate to them:
Ranking Factor Weight
- Rates of graduation and continued enrollment are 22%.
- Academic reputation 20%
- 20% of the faculty’s resources
- Financial resources 10%
- 8% performance in terms of the graduation rate
- Selectivity of students, 7 %
- Graduate indebtedness 5%
- Mobility in society: 5%
- Alums giving rate 3%
TOTAL 100%
It is easy to understand why colleges rankings may be a subjective topic since the ranking elements that US News favors, and the associated weights that they like may vary from those that you and other students prefer.
Is It Possible for US News to Revise Its Rankings of Schools?
US News has the right to remove rankings from schools and institutions if they cannot show evidence supporting the data supplied by the publication.
In the same vein as what was discussed before, US News maintains to check the compiled data, tweaks the criteria it employs, and plugs any loopholes it finds to preserve the credibility of its rankings and maintain the integrity of the orders themselves. That’s why it can remove a result from its list if it’s not appropriate.
An example of this would be Columbia University.
The University of Columbia
The Ivy League did not place in any rankings published by US News in 2022 because its member institutions could not provide sufficient evidence to support critical statistics. Some 2022 rankings take into account aspects such as the ratio of students to teachers, the size of classes, and the total number of full- and part-time teachers.
Consequently, the name Columbia University will not appear in the National Universities, Best Value Schools, or Top Performers on Social Mobility rankings published by the website that ranks colleges and universities for the year 2022. However, the prestigious institution maintains its standing in the following rankings published by US News in 2022:
- Writing within the Boundaries of the Disciplines (#10)
- Undergraduate Engineering Degree Programs (#21)
- Best Undergraduate Teaching (#33)
- Experiences Gained During One’s First Year (#54)
- Schools with the Highest Levels of Innovation (#57)
Similarly, the 2022 rankings that Columbia earned for its graduate-level institutions and programs have not changed. It is because the data that Columbia submitted, headquartered in New York City, New York, were analyzed independently.
Schools Identified As Participating In colleges Game of US News Rankings
A few other higher education institutions in the United States, in addition to Columbia University, have been found to have gamed the system that US News uses. These universities include Rutgers, Baylor, Claremont-McKenna, and USC (USC).
A few schools and institutions have been engaged in college ranking controversies in the past. If you feel that efforts to cheat the US News scoring system are uncommon and infrequent, you should reconsider that belief.
If a famous university such as Columbia was involved, what about other less well-known but highly esteemed schools?
Schools interested in gaining prominence and attention have a variety of options available to them to move up the various rankings published by US News. To begin, they can tell outright lies regarding matters such as the average scores on standardized tests of accepted students, student retention rates, the average beginning wages of alum members, and other related issues.
Some may try to alter statistics without really lying, for example, by reporting their total number of first-year admittances while having accepted students with poor SAT or ACT scores. Some people try to game the system and end up succeeding, however.
For instance, Northeastern University (NU) was once known as a commuter school but is currently ranked #49 among national universities for 2022 by US News. The private research institution used several techniques to get a high ranking, such as reducing the number of students enrolled in each class, adopting the Common Application to attract a larger pool of candidates, and attempting to exert some kind of influence over the individuals responsible for evaluating schools for US News.
Some colleges game that have been caught manipulating US News rankings are listed below
The University of Rutgers
The public research university, which has three regional campuses, employed its MBA graduates and put them in entirely fictitious roles inside the organization to unnaturally increase the rating of its MBA program by US News.
The University of Baylor
Baylor University, located in Waco, Texas, offered cash incentives to accepted students in 2008 to encourage them to take the SAT to achieve better scores. It might give the impression that Baylor is more selective than it is, as stated by US News.
Claremont McKenna College
A high-ranking official at the private liberal arts college Claremont McKenna College resigned in 2012 after admitting he had inflated the school’s reported average SAT scores to US News since 2005.
Southern California University of Orange County
After discovering inconsistencies in data submitted over the previous five years, the private research institution in Los Angeles, California, withdrew the Rossier School of Education from US News rankings in March 2022.
Conclusion:
Therefore, you should avoid assuming that the institution or university of your top pick will maintain its ranking in US News until the following calendar year. The well-known college ranking service will, if required, demote any school that is suspected of or shown to have tried to manipulate the ranking methodology that it employs, such as the schools and universities that we have discussed before.
FAQ:
When applying to universities, do all students consider college rankings?
In choosing where to attend college, just 66 percent of high school seniors who took part in a poll conducted by Art & Science Group, LLC consider various college rankings. According to the same survey, students who have performed well on standardized tests are more inclined to think about college rankings.
When making employment decisions, do companies consider a candidate’s college ranking?
Even though many businesses do not evaluate college rankings, some firms will prefer individuals who attended schools that have historically offered them a reliable supply of qualified applicants. When asked about it on Quora, one of the board’s chairmen said that university rankings are never considered during the hiring process.
What caused Columbia University to fall in the rankings?
This week, Columbia University fell from the #2 spot in the United States to the #18 spot. Despite the University’s admission that it had previously provided incorrect data to U.S. News & World Report, the institution maintained its high position in its annual college rankings.
What is the college rating that is the most accurate?
The Methodology Behind US News & World Report’s Ranking of the Best Colleges The most comprehensive college search is on US News.com. Nearly fifty different number rankings and lists are provided to assist students in focusing their college search.
