College rankings have become even more prevalent this year as anxious high school students continue to create a market for them. But even those who develop the rankings agree that numbers alone cannot accurately capture every aspect of a school.
In addition to U.S. News & World Report magazine's popular "America's Best Colleges" issue, Money magazine's annual college best buy issue and The Princeton Review ratings, Newsweek and Time magazines also introduced rankings this year.
"These things are money-makers and everyone is getting on the bandwagon," Dartmouth Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg said.
He said since people continue to buy magazines about college rankings, big news magazines continue to publish them.
Despite the proliferation of rankings, the accuracy is still controversial.
"This is not measuring teaching quality in the classroom, it is not capturing the complete picture of what goes on on a campus," U.S. News and World Report Research Director Bob Morse said. "It is measuring things deemed important by people at U.S. News."
"There is no question these rankings are important," Furstenberg said. "U.S. News is the main one."
He said he thinks a lot of students are affected by rankings.
"It seems to me students aren't going to choose number four over number seven, but rankings can help them learn a little bit more," Furstenberg said.
He said he also thinks rankings are useful because they "create the appearance of differences" between the top schools.
Furstenberg said there is so much marketing by colleges that they all begin to sound the same to prospective students.
Some members of the Class of 2000 said they consulted rankings when they were applying to colleges, but were critical of the ratings process.
Freshman Rob Auten said when he looked at college rankings he thought many unimportant factors were considered, "like alumni giving" rates.
"To me, the teaching factor is much more important," he said.
Eric Maycotte '00 said his grandparents sent him a copy of college rankings, but he didn't pay much attention to them. "Once they get in the top 10, they are all the same," he said.
Sarah Garman '00 expressed the same sentiment and said she did not consult college ratings.
"I don't think you can rank schools," she said. "What is the difference between one and 10?"
