College Planning Blog

With the next round of college ranking guides about to be released, including the annual U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges issue, it is important that families of college-bound students be well oriented to the rankings and how to get the most out of them. As a staunch advocate of a student-centered college planning process, Peter Van Buskirk, author of the new book, Winning the College Admission Game, offer the following tips for interpreting the college ranking guides.

A Guide To College Rankings
By Peter Van Buskirk
Author, Winning the College Admission Game

1. Don’t obsess on a number! Nothing in the ranking process is absolute. There is no such thing as the best college unless the term is used to describe the best college fit for a young person. For every student, there is a “best college.” It is important that students focus on finding and getting into the colleges that best suit their needs and interests rather than obsessing on a college because of its ranking.2. Use the rankings as a guide, not the gospel. College rankings are derived from a systematic, but unscientific collection of data from and about colleges and universities. While the data may prove useful, it can’t really be used comparatively due to vast differences between the culture, mission and politics of the institutions being assessed. For example, how can you compare testing profiles across colleges that vary greatly in terms of how they use (or don’t use tests) in the admission process?

3. The rankings provide a reference point for families as they triangulate on colleges in the search process. Readers should get what they can from the data and help their students fold that information into impressions they are gleaning about colleges from acquaintances (teachers, counselors, current students, recent graduates, professionals in the community) whose interests mirror their own.

4. Don’t change who you are to get into college. Too often families become fixed on particular college destinations, especially those with impressive rankings, and proceed to re-make the student into the image of what they think those colleges want. Rather than squeezing every hour out of every day in the pursuit of the perfect credential for the dream college, students should follow their passions in living the teenage years to the fullest.

5. Focus on the three W’s. College rankings frequently distract students from thinking about the things that are most important to them as they contemplate their educational futures. Students need to remain focused on the three W’s: who they are, why they want to go to college and what they hope to get out of the college experience.

6. Find the college that fits you best. Regardless of where it ranks, the best college fit for you will be one that:

• Offers a program of study to match your interests and needs.
• Provides a style of instruction to match the way you like to learn.
• Provides a level of academic rigor to match your aptitude and preparation.
• Offers a community that feels like home to you.
• Values you for what you do well.

7. Buy the magazine for the articles-they’re great! While it is best to approach the actual rankings with a jaundiced eye, the editors really have compiled an outstanding resource in the articles that wrap around the numbers. (The main reason the rankings change every year is that the editors keep changing the formula!) Check them out!

Peter Van Buskirk spent 25 years in college admission including 12 as the Director and then Dean of Admission at Franklin & Marshall College. The author of the recently released, Winning the College Admission Game, published by Peterson’s, speaks to high school groups around the country where is an active advocate of the student-centered college selection process. He lives in Lancaster, PA.

To contact Peter for inclusion in a story about college rankings or the college admission process in general, call 717-808-5462 or email him at Peter@TheAdmissionGame.com. Visit theadmissiongame.com.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 24th, 2007 at 2:11 pm and is filed under College Rankings, College Planning, Hot Topics/Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.