I understand your point but don't fully share your conclusion.
If I were looking to start or expand a business, I would look seriously at the kind of data and subsequent rankings that this study did. The reason being that it covers exactly the kind of data considerations that go into making that kind of business decision.
With colleges, I would and have looked at the rankings, but have always felt they needed to be taken with a grain of salt. Especially at the undergrad level. Now at the grad level, I feel differently. There are, it seems to me, some grad progams at certain schools that do indeed offer very superior instruction, teaching methods, networking opportunities, and so on. Wharton School of Finance, Columbia School of Medicine, and Julliard come to mind. There are grad programs all over that excel in a particular discipline....creative writing, filmmaking, international relations, etc.
My assumption is that almost all grad students who get into one of these program will graduate with an excellent body of knowledge and a real leg up on the competition. Not neccesarily so for the undergrads coming out of the top tier schools. |
