In Context: 5 Web Perspectives On A Story In The News

U.S. News and World Report University Ranking System is in contention

(U.S. News and World Report and the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers)

The U.S. News and World Report’s ranking system is in contention with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. The Association and the magazine recently tried to have a dialogue in November of this year in regards to the ranking system. Some universities, such as Stanford University, Reed College, and St. John’s College, have opted out of the magazine due to outrage over manipulation in the data by contributing universities. 

1.

U.S. News and World Report’s top ranking

U.S. News and World Report

This website shows Mortimer Zuckerman's for-profit magazine's rankings of universities in America and abroad.  Graduate schools, including law and medical schools, are also a major focus of the magazine's ranking pages. Each ranking shows the name of the school, photos of the school, gender/racial ratios, a historical summary, video tours, maps, contact information, dates for admission, acceptance rate, student life, tuition rates, endowment, SAT/ACT scores for admissions, application fee, comments from parents and students, room and board costs, financial aid statistics, the five most popular majors, 4-year graduation rate, and the selectivity rate. 

2.

American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers’ platform on ranking.

AACRAO
This website shows the 2011 dialogue between U.S. News and World Report and the organization American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. It goes into the criteria of rankings extensively. A conference was held from October 30 to November 2, 2011. The group put forward some ideas in rating universities: no ranking, looking to institutional differences, having a value-added aspect and governance by a non-profit entity. The magazine's response was the following: "U.S. News will not stop doing numerical rankings, since we believe the data can support that type of sequential rankings. U.S. News also noted that for-profit entities, such as U.S. News, are very successful at reaching consumers compared to nonprofits and that nonprofit management doesn't equal success. However, the rest of AACRAO's principles are up to the higher education community to achieve or develop independently." The dialogue is engaging and worthwhile. 

3.

U.S. News and World Report’s methodology for ranking

U.S. News and World Report
This website delves into the methodology of U.S. News and World Report. There is a FAQ area for the reader. The websites shows how it ranks the universities. There were changes to the 2012 ranking system. In particular, the 2012 ranking of the best schools includes new ones. The magazine now uses the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching's Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education 2010, particularly the basic classification area. An example would be the switch from national liberal arts colleges to regional colleges and vice versa. Also, some regional colleges were changed to national colleges and vice versa.

4.

National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities

U-CAN
This website, created by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in 2007, is used by some American universities, such as Stanford, instead of the U.S. News and World Report. Private and public universities are compared for parents and prospective students. Some information that is shown is admissions data, financial aid, tuition, campus safety, faculty degrees, gender/racial ratios and most popular majors. There is even a virtual campus tour for the viewer. Currently, 808 non-profit, private universities have signed with U-CAN, which is a non-profit organization.  You can type the zip code for schools in the area or type the school's name to see more about it. 

5.

U.S. Medical Deans tackle U.S. News and World Report

PR Web: Mount Sinai Medical Center
This website is a press release made by Mount Sinai Medical School in respect to its dialogue with the U.S. News and World Report on the ranking system's methodology. It occurred on October 27, 2011. The two sides try to be open and honest. Deans from the top medical schools around the country congregated there to discuss their concern with Brian Kelly, the editor of the magazine. This website will help the reader to learn more about the debate between educators and the magazine. A transcript and a video of the dialogue are available online at www.usnews.com