Abstract
Universities compete to improve their ranking in the different ranking systems and expend resources toward this goal. Higher rankings attract elite students, research funds, government and public support, among other benefits. However, perhaps the most influential ranking system in U.S. contexts—the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings—has largely remained unchanged for decades, leading researchers to question how highly-ranked institutions remain atop the rankings. As a result, the focus of this study was to examine all institutions reporting complete statistics to U.S. News in 2018 (n = 228) and develop experimental algorithms to learn which ranking criteria most contribute to an institution’s overall ranking. Of the 28 major ranking metrics, most algorithms demonstrated that predicted graduation rate, six-year graduation rate, and peer assessment best predicted overall U.S. News ranking. However, predicted graduation rate and peer assessment are highly subjective and speculative in nature, possibly contributing to the sustained stratification of U.S. News rankings.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alsmadi, I., & Taylor, Z. W. (2018). Examining university ranking metrics: Articulating issues of size and web dependency. ICCBD ‘18 Proceedings of the 2018 International Conference on Computing and Big Data (pp. 73–77). https://doi.org/10.1145/3277104.3277111.
Altbach, P. G. (2012). The globalization of college and university rankings. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning,44(1), 26–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2012.636001.
Bastedo, M. N., & Bowman, N. A. (2010). U.S. News & World Report college rankings: Modeling institutional effects on organizational reputation. American Journal of Education,116(2), 163–183. https://doi.org/10.1086/649437.
Bougnol, M.-L., & Dulá, J. H. (2015). Technical pitfalls in university rankings. Higher Education,69(5), 859–866. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-014-9809-y.
Bowman, N. A., & Bastedo, M. N. (2009). Getting on the front page: Organizational reputation, status signals, and the impact of U.S. News & World Report on student decisions. Research in Higher Education,50(5), 415–436. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-009-9129-8.
Ehrenberg, R. G. (2003). Reaching for the brass ring: The U.S. News & World Report rankings and competition. The Review of Higher Education,26(2), 145–162. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2002.0032.
Gnolek, S. L., Falciano, V. T., & Kuncl, R. W. (2014). Modeling change and variation in U.S. News & World Report college rankings: What would it really take to be in the top 20? Research in Higher Education,55(8), 761–779. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-014-9336-9.
Griffith, A., & Rask, K. (2007). The influence of the U.S. News & World Report collegiate rankings on the matriculation decision of high-ability students: 1995–2004. Economics of Education Review,26(2), 244–255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2005.11.002.
Hazelkorn, E. (2007). The impact of league tables and ranking systems on higher education decision making. Higher Education Management and Policy,19(2), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1787/hemp-v19-art12-en.
Hazelkorn, E. (2009). Impact of global rankings on higher education research and production of knowledge. Unesco Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge. https://doi.org/10.21427/D7BG9J.
Jaschik, S. (2018). 8 more colleges submitted incorrect data for rankings. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2018/08/27/eight-more-colleges-identified-submitting-incorrect-data-us-news.
Jaschik, S. (2019). Oklahoma gave false data for years to ‘U.S. News,’ loses ranking. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2019/05/28/university-oklahoma-stripped-us-news-ranking-supplying-false.
Lee, G., Sanford, T., & Lee, J. (2014). Variables that explain changes in institutional rank in U.S. News & World Report rankings. KEDI Journal of Educational Policy,11(1), 27–47.
Marginson, S. (2014). University rankings and social science. European Journal of Education,49(1), 45–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12061.
Martins, L. L. (2005). A model of the effects of reputational rankings on organizational change. Organizational Science,16(6), 701–720. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1050.0144.
Meredith, M. (2004). Why do universities compete in the ratings game? An empirical analysis of the effects of the U.S. News & World Report college rankings. Research in Higher Education,45(5), 443–461. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:RIHE.0000032324.46716.f4.
Morse, R., Brooks, E., & Mason, M. (2018). How U.S. News calculated the 2019 best college rankings. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings.
Owings-Edwards, S. (2005). The effect on wage of attending a U.S. News & World Report best college. Journal of College Teaching and Learning,2(10), 21–32. https://doi.org/10.19030/tlc.v2i10.1870.
Safón, V. (2013). What do global university rankings really measure? The search for the X factor and the X entity. Scientometrics,97(2), 223–244. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-013-0986-8.
Sauder, M., & Espeland, W. N. (2009). The discipline of rankings: Tight coupling and organizational change. American Sociological Review,74(1), 63–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240907400104.
Sauder, M., & Lancaster, R. (2006). Do rankings matter? The effects of U.S. News & World Report rankings on the admissions process of law schools. Law & Society Review,40(1), 105–134. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2006.00261.x.
Taylor, Z. W., Childs, J., Bicak, I., & Alsmadi, I. (2019). Is bigger, better? Exploring U.S. News graduate education program rankings and internet characteristics. Interchange: A Quarterly Review of Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-019-09366-0.
U.S News & World Report. (2018). 2018 U.S. News best colleges. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges.
Volkwein, J. F., & Sweitzer, K. V. (2006). Institutional prestige and reputation among research universities and liberal arts colleges. Research in Higher Education,47(2), 129–148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-005-8883-5.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Alsmadi, I., Taylor, Z.W. & Childs, J. U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings: Which institutional metrics contribute to sustained stratification?. Scientometrics 124, 1851–1869 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-020-03560-z
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-020-03560-z