Arbitrary rankings don't help anyone

NYU is No. 32 in the U.S. News and World Report's ranking of "America's Best Colleges 2010." The Academic Ranking of World Universities also placed NYU at No. 32 (tied with Rockefeller University) in its 2009 listings, which accounts for universities worldwide. Only three non-American universities made it into the ARWU's top 20. Both sources ranked Harvard University No. 1.

The ARWU derives its rankings from criteria including the "quality of education" and "quality of staff" at each school. Other factors in their calculations include the number of papers published, the amount of highly cited researchers, and the number of Nobel Prize and Fields Medal winners among alumni and faculty. By contrast, the U.S. News and World Report rankings are developed according to academic peer review, employer review, student-to-faculty ratio, citations per faculty member, and proportion of international faculty and students.

The WSN Editorial Board thinks these rankings are arbitrary and that too much emphasis is placed on the results. It is impossible to uniformly calculate the quality of education offered at every university. The value of most social institutions, including education, cannot be objectively quantified. Although the ability to neatly categorize universities may satisfy our cultural yearning to put everything in list form, we believe these rankings do not serve a valid purpose.

Most universities take a similar stance. University presidents, spokespeople and even law school deans commonly call upon university communities to ignore these rankings. But as long as law firms and employers continue to put weight on these ranking systems, the ratings may prove hard to ignore.

The lists can also be misleading for prospective students selecting a university to attend. Basing such an important decision on a subjectively deduced numerical ranking system can prove problematic. Students should choose an institution of higher education that fits their individual needs.

Perhaps the U.S. News and World Report and the ARWU might learn something from the Princeton Review. Although its method has some flaws, the Princeton Review takes a less sweeping approach: Universities are ranked for quality by particular attributes — such as "Quality of Life" or "Most Accessible Professors" — rather than as a whole.

NYU is proof that students must tailor their college search to their own specifications. Although our university has received a high ranking on both lists, it is not the place for everyone. The number of awards received by alumni does nothing to help students find their own ideal learning environment in a large city.

E-mail the editorial board at editboard@nyunews.com.