The Chronicle of Higher Education
Colleges Still Obsess Over National Rankings. For Proof, Look at Their Strategic Plans.
September 13, 2021
Over the last two decades, the U.S. News “Best Colleges” rankings have sustained intense criticism for rewarding wealthier institutions, for weighting “inputs” over “outputs,” and for being poor indicators of colleges’ quality. Yet public colleges are still using the rankings and those they inspired to measure their own success.