Criticism of college and university rankings (2007 United States)

Criticism of college and university rankings (2007 United States) refers to a 2007 movement which developed among faculty and administrators in American Institutions of Higher Education. It follows previous movements in the U.S. and Canada (by schools in the 1990s such as Reed College, Stanford University, Alma College, as well as a number of universities in Canada in 2006) which have criticized the practice of college rankings. The arguments of those who criticize the ranking are that it is not possible to come with a single number that characterizes university performance. Ratings, as argued by academic institutions and their leaders, can be easily manipulated and include such subjective characteristics as the “reputation” determined by surveying university administrators such as chancellors or deans. Methodology of many rankings (e.g., U.S. News and World Report 2015 Best Engineering Schools Rankings) emphasizes research expenditures (such as grants and contracts) as the only measure of scientific accomplishments despite the concern that measuring science by the amount of money spent rather than by the importance and impact of scientific discoveries or the depth of the ideas could encourage costly projects that are not necessary scientifically sound.

In 2007, educators in the United States began to question the impact of rankings on the college admissions process, coinciding with the newly released Washington Post article "The Cost of Bucking College Rankings" by Dr. Michele Tolela Myers (the former President of Sarah Lawrence College). As Sarah Lawrence College dropped its SAT test score submission requirement for its undergraduate applicants in 2003 (thus joining the SAT optional movement for undergraduate admission), SLC does not have SAT data to send to U.S. News for its national survey. Of this decision, Myers states, "We are a writing-intensive school, and the information produced by SAT scores added little to our ability to predict how a student would do at our college; it did, however, do much to bias admission in favor of those who could afford expensive coaching sessions.

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