Visualizing the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Rankings

VISUALIZING THE US.News BEST & WORLD REPORT COLLEGES RANKINGS U.S. News & World Report's (USNWR) Best Colleges Rankings are the most influential college rankings in the world, as well as the most controversial. In addition to providing trusted guidance to many of the best and brightest students around the globe, they are known to determine policy decisions of some colleges and universities looking to improve their rank. See where the rankings come from and how they work so you can decide their value for yourself. HISTORY POLITICS ECONOMICS HEALTH EDUCATION EDUCATION Report began as a U.S. news magazine focused on politics, economics, health shed in 1948, U.S. News Wo HIRI and education. It was originally published weekly but changed to biweekly and then monthly before it became exclusively online in 2011. Ye tversity JANUARY 1948 JANLARY 2009 JULY 2000 4.5 6789 0 Il 12 15 4 15 16 18 19 20 21 22 25 6 27 693 45 6789 11 12 15 4 15 16 7 18 19 20 21 22 2 1234 5 67 89 10 1 12 15 4 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 2 5 2125 WEEKLY BIWEEKLY MONTHLY IT IS NOW KNOWN ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY FOR ITS RANKINGS COLLEGES HIGH SCHOOLS HOSPITALS AUTOMOBILES HEALTH PLANS * MUTUAL FUNDS * NURSING HOMES * LAVW FIRMS * AND MORE 2000000 USNWR BEST COLLEGES RANKINGS are now the most widely recognized and influential college rankings in the world HITS PER WEEK 1% USNWR INCREASE USNWR BEST COLLEGES RANKINGS can increase a schools applications by 1% with just one rank improvement RANKINGS SCORE INCREASE %3D IN SCHOOL APPLICATIONS Robert Morse is the director of data research for U.S. News & World Report and the one responsible for developing the methodologies and surveys for rankings. Morse has an MBA from Michigan State University and worked for E.F. Hutton and the U.S. Treasury Department before his involvement with the rankings in 1987. He runs the blog Morse Code, which provides updates and commentary on the U.S. News & World Report Rankings and frequently responds to criticisms of the rankings. ROBERT MORSE: The Man behind the Rankings HOW THE RANKINGS WORK First, the schools are divided into four different categories based on the school's mission as classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching's Basic Classification. Each category is rated separate from the others and has slightly different methodologies. THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION NATIONAL NATIONAL REGIONAL REGIONAL UNIVERSITIES LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES UNIVERSITIES COLLEGES Second, each school is evaluated based on 7 different categories of academic excellence. Each category has a different 'weight' depending on the editors' judgment as well as the school types it falls in to. $. 2nd yr. ACT UNDERGRADUATE ACADEMIC STUDENT RETENTION FACULTY RESOURCES REPUTATION A composite score of: A composite score of: - proportion of returning sophomores - proportion of graduates who earned Based on surveys of college and university -classes with fewer than 20 students (30 %) presidents, provosts, and deans as well as classes with more than 49 students (10%) high school guidance counselors. degrees in six years or less - faculty salary (35%) - top degree professors (15%) The idea here is that this provides unique The idea here is that the higher the -student-faculty ratio (5%) - full-time faculty (5%) vantage points that aren't always captured in quantitative data. Also, the reputation of a school can be important for landing a good proportion of freshmen who return to campus for their sophomore year and eventually graduate, the better a school is apt to be at offering the classes and services The idea here is that the more contact with job or getting into graduate school. professors, the more likelihood of learning that students need to succeed. and thus graduating. 22.5% NATIONAL 20% NATIONAL 20% NATIONAL 25% REGIONAL 25% REGIONAL 20% REGIONAL 4. STUDENT SELECTIVITY FINANCIAL RESOURCES GRADUATION RATE ALUMNI GIVING RATE PERFORMANCE Average spending per student on instruction, research, The percentage of living alumni with bachelor's degrees A composite score of: -SAT and ACT scores (50%); Measures the difference between enrolled freshman who student services, and other a school's six-year graduation who gave in recent years. graduated near the top of educational expenditures; rate and the predicted rate. This their class (40%); spending on sports, dorms, is based on the school's policies and programs after controlling for spending and student The idea here is that this is an percentage of applicants and hospitals is not counted. indirect measure of student accepted by the school (10%) satisfaction, since the more you enjoyed your time at the school, the more likely you are The idea here is that the more characteristics, The idea here is that a school's a school spends per student, academic atmosphere is the more programs and The idea here is that if the actual to give. determined in part by the graduation rate is higher than the predicted rate, the college is services it can offer. abilities and ambitions of the students. enhancing achievement. 15% NATIONAL 10% NATIONAL 7.5% NATIONAL 5% NATIONAL 15% REGIONAL 10% REGIONAL 0% REGIONAL 5% REGIONAL Finally, the schools in each category are ranked against each other, based on their composite weighted score. The highest score in each category is scaled up to 100 and the rest are a proportion of that score. FOR EXAMPLE HARVARD IS IN THE CATEGORY OF NATIONAL UNIVERSITIES Harvard can't be compared to other types of schools. That's like comparing apples and oranges. Harvard University After examining Harvard 7 different ways, Cambridge. MA USNWR grades it as the top National University. Harvard University is a private institution in Cambridge, Mass, just outside of B Leaque school is the oldest higher education institution in the country and has th Tuition and fe S40,44 12012-13) Enrolment .657 Setting: city endowment of any school in the world. Princeton University Well, actually it tied with Princeton, which comes later in the alphabet, so Harvard gets the top spot. Princeton, NJ The ivy covered campus of Princeton University, a private institution, is located of Princeton, N.J. Princeton was the first university to offer a "no loan" policy to Tunion and f S0.A5 (2012-13) Enrellment .260 Setting suburbar students, giving grants instead of loans to accepted students who need help pay Yale University And since it got the top spot, all other schools are graded as a comparison of Harvard. Yale Univorsity, located in Now Haven, Conn, offors a small college life with the major research institution. Yale students are divided into 12 residential colleges Tuhion and feeu $42.100 12012-135 Lerpillment: 5.3es supportive environment for living, learning, and socializing. Setting: city Columbia University PROS & CONS Doesn't sufficiently take into account significant differences between types of colleges and their Uses transparent criteria and methodology. Relies primarily on quantitative, objective data rather than subjective opinions. particular missions and thus ends up comparing apples to oranges. The assumptions behind the criteria used and the weights given to them are subjective. Uses most recent data provided by the schools. Shows scale-adjusted scores for each school so Gives the most weight to personal opinions regarding a school's reputation. users can see the degree of difference between each ranked school. Provides lots of useful information about each Doesn't measure the quality or amount of learn- ranked school displayed in an easily understand- ing that occurs. able manner. Doesn't take into account outcome measures showing how students succeed after graduation. Doesn't consider overall cost of attendance in cal- culating the rankings. Some schools have cheated the rankings by sub- mitting false data. SOURCES www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/09/11/how-us-news-calculates-its-best-colleges-rankings www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/12-014.pdf www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._News_%26_World_Report www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_gladwell www.centerforcollegeaffordability.org/uploads/College_Rankings_History.pdf www.educationsector.org/publications/defense-college-rankings www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57510906/4-reasons-to-ignore-u.5-news-college-rankings/ www.chea.org/pdf/2010 IS_The_Future of_Ranking Systems Morse.pdf brought to you by THE COLLEGE CONSENSUS www.collegeconsensus.com NORTH SOUTH MIDWEST WEST NOR SOU MID WES