U.S. News Program Rankings

Do you think the U.S. News program rankings are accurate and reliable?

 

I think that they probably accurately measure the things that they measure. My question is this, are the things that are measured actually criteria for what constitutes a poor v. good v. best school? Here's an example of what I mean. In a recent thread it was stated that in the UK, Cambridge was ranked #1 and Oxford #2. So what separated these two? Did Cambridge have a few more books in it's library? Another 2 or 3 tenured Professors? A few more dollars in the bank? Do I as a potential consumer of this "service" really care that Cambridge subscribes to some obscure journal and Oxford does not? Personally, I do not, although I can understand if someone else disagrees. So for me it's a wash. No real difference between the two. Once you get to the point of comparing #1 to #100 the differences will seem larger but then, I don't think that I really need US News to tell me that Harvard might be an overall better school that UMass. So usually I ignore these rankings which I believe have been developed as a way to get anxious parents of 11th grade students to buy their magazines (which was a smart move, btw).

 

Not really, but I am a Princeton Mom so I fully admit I love seeing a report every year that Princeton is #1 or tied for #1. Even my daughters who went to Ivy League schools know that the whole rating thing is not really all it is cracked up to be, but it does not stop them from calling schools like Brown and Yale "Safety schools."

 

LOL @Steve. Very true. I am mainly asking because the MLIS program at The University of Denver is showing as "rank not published". When I looked further into what that meant, it seems that U.S. News did calculate a number for this program but because it was so low, they don't publish it. Which is total bs because I know 100% that the DU program is BY FAR better than the SJSU program, whose only admission criteria is a decent GPA and bachelor's degree and who essentially works as the MLIS degree mill, they ranked 22! They fact they ranked SJSU that high, in my mind, automatically dismisses their credibility.

DU is selective, admitting about 70% of applicants and known for having rigorous coursework. They have much higher standards for their students than SJSU and faculty who produce quality research time and time again. Ok rant over.

 

The US News rankings are overrated, but can be useful if you looking at schools that you aren't personally familiar with. There are literally of thousands of colleges and universities across the US -- realistically, no single individual can claim to have a well-founded opinion on all of them.

It's probably true that someone in New England doesn't need US News to tell them that Harvard is better than UMass. But what if that same New Englander needs to know something about the top private and public universities in (for example) Missouri?

In that case, maybe it doesn't hurt to open US News. It tells us that the top-rated private school in Missouri is Washington U in St. Louis, which is ranked in the same ballpark as Brown. And that the top-rated public school in Missouri is U of Missouri-Columbia, which is ranked in the same ballpark as UMass-Amherst.

The US News ranking should not be taken as gospel, but it's a reasonable place to start if you need to get a quick fix on a school that doesn't have a strong reputation in your part of the country.

 

Another point to be aware of is that the US News rankings in some specialized fields are not updated every year; in fact, sometimes they are several years out of date. For example, the "current" US News Library and Information Studies ranking is actually from 2009, and it probably reflects data from 2008 or earlier.

My understanding is that the SJSU program has changed significantly since then, including a switch to fully online delivery mode and expansion of enrollment. So the 2009 ranking may not accurately reflect the program's 2013 reputation.

 

That is good to know Caldog! Thank you! And that actually explains a lot because DU's MLIS program is fairly young was not fully ALA accredited until 2005 and being so young in 2008 there probably wasn't substantial data available to show the power of their program. I hope they update it soon!

 

I tried looking up the University of Denver's University of Denver Master of Library and Information Science program but could not find it.

 

Enter "Denver MLIS" into Google.
Click on the first link.

 

The fallacy, in my opinion, is that a college ranked well automatically means it's the better choice, which is ridiculous. Parents need to council their children who may be too young to fully appreciate the value in finding the "best fit."

 

Are you saying less selective admissions equals degree mill? If so, wouldn't all community colleges be degree mills? Maybe I am just misunderstanding something.....

 

At a graduate degree level, yes a program that has essentially no admission standards and close to a 100% admission rate would qualify as a degree mil. Google might be able to give you a more precise definition.

 

Okay then, University of South Florida has a MA in Adult Ed (or something like that) that does not require a GRE but does require an interview...degree mill?

 

Again, if you are concerned with how a specific degree program is viewed in terms of "degree mil", I would suggest you consult a search engine and do some research - or perhaps start a new thread to gain more insight. Since I am not interested in that specific degree, I have not done the research and therefore, do not have any insight for you.

 

I will keep that in mind...

 

I like the US News Ranking. It's kind of fun to look at. And I like the fact that they started rating online programs too but they still need some time to get this buttoned down.

 

According to Wikipedia, that is one definition:

"A diploma mill (also known as a degree mill) is an unaccredited higher education institution that offers bogus academic degrees and diplomas for a fee."

Like it or not, people commonly do use the term that way, as also acknowledged by Wikipedia:

"The term "diploma mill" may also be used pejoratively to describe a legitimate institution with low academic admission standards and a low job placement rate."

You may not approve of this usage, but it is nonetheless widespread. You can confirm this by Googling the phrase "X is a diploma mill", where "X" is practically any large for-profit university.

 

I should add that I don't approve of this usage either. But I can't deny that it exists. In fact, it even exists within academia -- people at more selective accredited institutions use it with reference to unselective accredited institutions.