This Year, One Major College Ranker Is Turning from Rankings to Ratings

As U.S. News & World Report has faced boycotts and criticisms of its college rankings over the past several months, other rankings editors have been watching. Now, one ranker, Money magazine, is announcing a major change. Colleges on Money’s 2023 list will get a rating — somewhere between two-and-a-half and five stars — instead of a numbered rank. Stories about the rankings on Money.com encourage students not to obsess over small differences in ranks, and to use the Money list as one tool among many in making their college choice. (U.S. News offers similar advice.) But Kaitlin Mulhere, Money’s higher-education editor, said all the caveats felt a bit disingenuous.