U.S. News and World Report says its college rankings are based partly on test scores, student-teacher ratios and graduate placements VIDEO CNN's Gary Tuchman looks at the controversy over college rankings Windows Media 28K 80K

August 20, 1999
Web posted at: 8:59 p.m. EDT (0059 GMT)

From Correspondent Gary Tuchman

PRINCETON, New Jersey (CNN) -- Last year, when U.S. News and World Report's well-known rankings of America's colleges and universities came out, there was joy at Princeton, which was tied for No. 1.

But this year, those same rankings put Princeton tied for fourth -- and that has caused some grumbling.

"There will be some number of people who believe that the ranking is legitimate statistically," said Justin Harmon, Princeton's communications director. "And it is not."

While that may sound like sour grapes to some, the U.S. News and World Report rankings are being criticized from many corners.

Competing magazines Time and Newsweek also put out college guides, but they say they don't rank schools because it can't be done accurately. And the head of a company that publishes scores of college guides, Peterson's Publishing, says ranking schools is like comparing apples and oranges.

"Basically, we are saying it's inaccurate and therefore unfair," said Peterson's president and chief executive officer, Michael Brannick.

But U.S. News and World Report says the rankings -- based partly on test scores, student-teacher ratios and graduate placements -- are comprehensive and fair.

"We think there are ways to measure education in the United States, and we've done what we think is an objective job doing that," said U.S. News and World Report spokeswoman Victoria Pope.

Peterson's Publishing, which puts out scores of college guides, says ranking colleges is unfair

The top university in the magazine's ranking this year, for the first time, is the California Institute of Technology, followed by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Princeton and Yale share the No. 4 spot. Also on the top 10 list are Stanford, Duke, Johns Hopkins, the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia.

And while many schools may not agree with the survey's methodology, they apparently believe they ignore the annual issue at their peril. About 93 percent of U.S. colleges help the magazine prepare its rankings by filling out surveys.

"I want to say it doesn't matter, but the fact is that for some number of prospective students, it will matter. And that bothers me," Harmon said.

Indeed, Princeton says that in years when it hasn't been ranked No. 1, it has lost top students who only want to go to the top school.

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