Love them or otherwise, university rankings continue to hold the attention of many students (and their parents!) researching possible destinations for undergraduate or graduate level studies.
The majority of college counselors I’ve worked with over the years largely consider rankings a distraction, and many, including myself, don’t normally consult them when working with students. The reason is simple – I’ve never found that rankings are an accurate or meaningful tool to help identify one or more schools that would be a great fit for a student to consider.
That being said, what are some of the things I do look at? Among many pieces of information, I look at the admissions statistics of the school, their retention rate and percentage of students employed after graduation, opportunities for undergraduate research, percentage of students moving on to grad school, the overall cost of attendance, the schools ability to work with students that have specific learning needs, and as I work primarily with international students, the systems the school has in place to welcome and support these students. Every student and situation is unique, and although rankings will always be part of the discussion, one of my key responsibilities when working with a student is to have them think carefully about what is important to them and their future experience at a given school.
