Customer Reviews

College Rankings Exposed Hardcover 1/e

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Are you concerned about your child getting into the best college? If so, I would encourage you to read this book.

The book opens with the fallacy of "the best college" that college rankings tend to foster. To produce a ranking, each college is reduced to a single number. But can an experience as complex as college really be expressed as a single number? The book discusses problems with producing the ranking such as unverified data, sensitivity to minor changes in data values, selection of criteria to measure, and getting input from college presidents but not students.

The book then continues by discussing the elements of a quality education:
1. A commitment to general education throughout all four years of college.
2. A commitment to writing, speaking, and critical-thinking skills for all students in every class.
3. A commitment to active learning (including interactions between the faculty and students beyond the classroom).
4. Opportunities for learning beyond the classroom (such as education abroad and internships).
5. A diverse, intellectually active, and respectful community.

Please note what this book is not: it is not a complete guide to choosing a college. For example, it does not discuss cost, location, setting (urban, suburban, etc.), or distance from home. Also, the book deemphasizes the choice of a major more than I feel is appropriate. For example, if your child wants to go into engineering, choosing a small liberal arts college would probably be a poor choice.

In summary, I highly recommend this book for three types of people:
1. If you and your child are choosing colleges based on their ranking and reputation, this book should help you understand the fallacy of college rankings.
2. If you and your child are in the process of selecting a college, this book discusses factors you will probably want to consider in making your decision.
3. If you and your child have selected a lower-ranked school, this book should help you deal with friends and relatives who still subscribe to the myth of "the best college."

Boyer does not cover any new ground in the college rankings hoopla. He reiterates common points that rankings opponents use to persuade readers. He also presents an inexcusable bias towards "career-oriented" majors by lauding the critical thinking skills that liberal arts majors exercise and pointing out flaws in the nature of specific career training. Furthermore, Boyer seems to only value 5 characteristics of a college that a student should look for; nevermind that every student in every major will not need every one of these characteristics in a college. Again, the author talks pointedly about things that a liberal arts major would want, not necessarily a what a music, or dance, or agricultural major would want in a college. This book is not worth buying.

What a breath of fresh air! After plowing through all of those "best of" college guides, what a relief to find something that will truly help my daughter and I select a college for her. The book provided me with some really unique insights on how to tell if a school will provide the kind of education that will translate into success after graduation. Additionally, it lists all of the vital questions you need to ask to find out if a school caters to freshman and is committed to teaching its undergraduate classes. I had no idea that most of the professors at the ivies did not get involved with anything but graduate-level courses or research, which means your kid ends up with the assistants! This book is easy to read and you'll learn what you need to know. I highly recommend this to any involved parent.

There are many interesting contrarian college guidebooks out there. These books state that families have become obsessed with college rankings, and have lost perspective on what a college education should be. They also promote that the match between a student and a college is far more important than the college brand name. As a parent, I could not agree more. However, Boyer does not add anything new that has not already been said by others.

Boyer does not contribute any practical college recommendation. This is except for a few narrative examples of typical programs he likes conducted by unknown community colleges. You still have no idea if the mentioned community colleges are good overall or not. This is in contrast to other authors who analyze the merits of tens of specific colleges worth a look.

Boyer also strongly promotes his concept of "general education." The idea seems to have merit. However, many colleges do that already with mixed successes. I gather Harvard and others are struggling with revamping such burdensome general education curriculum requirements in favor of greater flexibility, fewer requirements, and a focus on more practical knowledge (including a stronger scientific foundation, not explicitly supported by Boyer). Some liberal arts colleges have had greater success with the concept. But, they entail you should complement your education with a graduate degree in order to acquire marketable skills. This is a laudable path, but obviously not for everyone.

Boyer's critic of the U.S. News ranking is flawed. He makes you believe it is all about selectivity and prestige among peers. Actually, peer assessment counts for only 25% of the rating. And, selectivity as narrowly interpreted by Boyer (acceptance rate) counts for only 1.5% of the entire U.S. News ranking score. Boyer completely ignores all the factors that account for 73.5% of U.S. News rankings. And, within these are key measures of education quality that no one should blindly ignore. These include freshman retention rate and graduation rate.

Boyer gets hang up on the moving around in the ranking. Maybe Columbia and Cornell moved up or down three ranks from last year. For him, that demonstrates that the ranking is faulty. One should not be obsessed about the minutia of ranking differentials of even 10 spots. The better way to use the rankings is to focus on the metrics mentioned above. If you look at two schools, the first one has a freshman retention rate of 91% and a graduation rate of 82%. The second school has respective metrics of 79% and 52%. It is pretty explicit that the first school is a stronger education performer associated with a higher customer satisfaction (92% retention) and superior service delivery (actually graduating). Boyer will argue that the first school's performance is solely a result of a stronger student body. But, the quality of the student body does count for a lot.

Let me recommend other books on the same subject that will impart far more practical and objective information. These include the excellent "Harvard Schmarvard" by Jay Mathews, "Colleges That Change Lives" and "Looking Beyond the Ivy League" by Loren Pope, and "Inside the Top Colleges" by Howard Greene.

I am exploring colleges and going through a multitude of resources. This book hits the mark in terms of sound advise - what to look for, what questions to ask, how the rankings are deceiving, etc. It's a must read.