“It is ludicrous on its face that an individual institution could rise or fall by dozens of spots on a college rankings list in a single year. But the U.S. News rankings released today are yet more evidence that rankings are not and never have been reliable indicators of quality.
We have known for a long time that such rankings lack any validity or reliability and serve only to mislead students and parents as to which institution may be right for them. There are thousands of unique colleges and universities with vastly different missions, campuses, and programs, each of which may be the right fit for a particular student. Unfortunately, this is obscured in the U.S. News and other rankings, and we hope to shine a strong spotlight on that in the revamped Carnegie Classifications.”