Colorful art concept with arm of White person holding up trophy

The True Value of National Rankings in Your College Search

The hotly debated college rankings aren't the final say in college success. This higher ed professional shares how they should stack up in your search.

We exist in a name-brand obsessed culture, which creates stress-inducing media headlines every year when high school seniors are creating their prospective colleges list. Articles and blogs tend to highlight only the attention-grabbing results of a very narrow band of highly selective college admission decisions, which are then translated by most students into “I’ll never get in anywhere!”

If you had to choose a spouse or partner for life, would you use a publication ranking them by income, IQ scores, and reputation as reported by others who have never met the person? As a culture, we love consulting consumer guidebooks and lists for a shortcut method to choosing things like electronics and cars; the college search requires a more thoughtful, personal, and time-consuming approach. Let’s explore why the college search is so much more than brand names and rankings.

The college search and your self-inventory

The reason college search can’t be reduced to rankings with numerical values is because it requires starting with you—individual student—and why you’re going to college, which includes factors like your needs and desires and your learning styles and interests. This self-inventory is the start of finding colleges that “fit” the individual, instead of starting with the assumption that only the “Top 20” on college-ranking lists have any value. These ranking guides sell big, but their value, or lack thereof, in the college search process can certainly be diminished if students, parents, and counselors go after fit, rather than name recognition.

Related: How to Build the Perfect College List in High School

The flaws of college rankings

One of the biggest flaws in starting the college search process by using ranking lists is that they tout the entering class statistics, rather than focusing on what happens during the four years those students are enrolled. The late author Loren Pope, of Looking Beyond the Ivy League and Colleges That Change Lives, said choosing a college based on the entering statistics of the freshman class is like choosing a hospital based on the health of those in the ER—it’s the treatment that matters, and when it comes to colleges, the treatment is what happens between the first year and graduation.

Do a little research into colleges based on student outcomes, and you’ll find it’ll highlight many colleges that outperform the Ivies and other assorted “name brands” but don’t have the benefit of name recognition. The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) is a wonderful resource for gathering information about college outcomes and provides a list of the right questions to ask during the college search.

Find the value in others’ college experiences

To counteract the notion that “a college can’t be any good if I’ve never heard of it”—another familiar student opinion—think about the people in your life who are happy and successful, and if they went to college, find out where. Even research where celebrities went to college. You’ll discover that most often the choice of college has less to do with success in life than it does the experience and the opportunities students take advantage of during those college years, coupled with personal qualities and traits.

Employers and graduate schools are looking for outstanding skills and experience, not college pedigree. On the flip side of the process I pose this question to students: “Would you want college admission deans to ignore your application and the chance to learn all about your background and talents, only because they have not heard of your high school?” This question usually helps students to see that in looking beyond name recognition when searching for colleges, they’ll leave themselves open to more possibilities for colleges that will be a great fit for them.

Related: The Best and Worst College Advice From Real Students

The simple truth is that the majority of the colleges and universities in this country admit more students than they deny. The college search process should be an enjoyable and memorable experience, not an exercise to be dreaded! This is not a trophy hunt, with a “winner takes all” philosophy. If you’re worried about your chances for college admission and you’re willing to investigate beyond the very narrow band of highly visible colleges, you’ll find that many options lead to both a great fit and a lifelong passion for learning.

If you appreciate the value of a good list to complement your college search, check out our Lists & Rankings section to learn about all kinds of colleges not just the name-brand school

Like what you’re reading?

Join the CollegeXpress community! Create a free account and we’ll notify you about new articles, scholarship deadlines, and more.

Join Now

Join our community of
over 5 million students!

CollegeXpress has everything you need to simplify your college search, get connected to schools, and find your perfect fit.

Join CollegeXpress

College Quick Connect

Swipe right to request information.
Swipe left if you're not interested.


Melanie Kajy

Melanie Kajy

High School Class of 2021

CollegeXpress has helped me tremendously during my senior year of high school. I started off using the college search to find more information about the universities I was interested in. Just this tool alone gave me so much information about a particular school. It was my one-stop shop to learn about college. I was able to find information about college tuition, school rank, majors, and so much more that I can't list it all. The college search tool has helped me narrow down which college I want to attend, and it made a stressful process surprisingly not so stressful. I then moved to the scholarship search tool to find scholarships to apply for because I can't afford to pay for tuition myself. The search tool helped me find scholarships that I was eligible for. The tool gave me all the information I could ever need about a particular scholarship that was being offered. The CollegeXpress scholarship search tool is so much better than other tools offered, like the Chegg scholarship search. Thanks to CollegeXpress, I was able to apply to tons of scholarships in a relatively easy way!

Rhiannon Teeter

Rhiannon Teeter

$2,000 Community Service Scholarship Winner, 2012

I have spent a lot of time aggressively searching for scholarships. It was a long and frustrating process until I found the CollegeXpress network. This site made my search so much easier. With the simple check of a few boxes, the site sorted out scholarships I was eligible for and led me directly to the correct websites. Winning this scholarship has definitely given me and my family some financial relief, and CollegeXpress has allowed me to improve my chances of winning further financial aid. Thank you so much!

Mimi

Mimi

High School Class of 2022

CollegeXpress has provided me with tips that were for college students, but as a high school junior, they were still very useful. Not only that, it also gave me an idea of what to expect when it comes to going to college or already being in college. I want to say thank you to CollegeXpress, and I hope you continue the wonderful tips until I hopefully get into college and throughout my college journey.

Jada Bohanon

Jada Bohanon

High School Class of 2021

CollegeXpress has helped me find scholarships for the colleges I applied to. It was very hard for me to find scholarships in the beginning that I was qualified for. My teachers recommended this website to find some, and not only did I find some scholarships but I also got to look into some schools I hadn’t heard of before. I was very happy to have discovered this website, especially with the coronavirus spreading all over as I can’t really go visit many colleges.

Keaun Brown

Keaun Brown

$2,000 Community Service Scholarship Winner, 2020

As I transition to furthering my education, I can say with certainty that it simply wouldn’t be possible without the help of generous organizations such as CollegeXpress. Those who initially founded CX had no idea their platform would give a plethora of information to a first-generation homeless kid native to the ghettos of over half a dozen states. Everyone at CX and Carnegie Dartlet gave me a chance at a future when the statistics said I had none. And for that, I thank them.