Seth Godin, a consummate author, marketer, and creative social commentator offers his "Godin-ian" views on college rankings. Not surprisingly, that they are linear, simplistic, and forced.
The problem...
With College Rankings
The Differences in How College Rankings Are Created
Every year around this time of September, a number of college rankings and the "Best Of" listings are released. The most widely regarded is U.S. News & World Report, and others include Forbes, Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Business Week, Princeton Review. While many of the same schools occupy similar ratings or tiers, what causes some lists to rank a school higher or lower? Each list prioritizes different features. When you inevitably look at how schools compare in particular ranking lists, it's important to remember the origin of these rankings, and how these numbers were calculated.