I’ll chime in with contrary anecdotal experience having gone to a high school with lots of selective college placements. I didn’t know anyone who chose between two elite schools based on their relative US News ranking.
Mine neither. Maybe it’s because they’re the prep school set, but what turned out to be the tie breaker for my multi-Ivy admit friends was the campus visit. I remember one who was adamant about getting in shape in college and chose the one where the freshman dorms were closest to the campus recreation building.
If you’re of a certain background, it’s really your mom or dad’s alma mater, and then one of a few “perfectly acceptable, fine schools.”
I think the difference between say #4 and #12 in a given year exists in the minds of middle class strivers. I went to a public university and a private one for undergraduate and graduate school, and at the top levels it really comes down to the professors on an individual level and perhaps the department, more than the institution itself.
And in any case, if you pay attention to the finer movements in the rankings, schools rarely keep the same position between publications. It’s just the same ones playing musical chairs with each other year after year.
I find this hard to believe. Obviously everyone had more important considerations, but I know a few people that got full rides to a few top schools and absolutely chose based off rankings.
I'm saying among people I knew, if you got into #4 and #10, for example, you didn't pick #4 because it was higher rated. At that point the difference came down to other things.
If you got into #4 and #40, then yes, you were going with #4.
I didn't say that they don't. I'm saying among people I knew, if you got into #4 and #10, for example, you didn't pick #4 because it was higher ranked. At that point the difference came down to other things.
If you get to the point where you are choosing between Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, you may as well choose based on the color of the curtains in your dormitory because it really isn't going to matter.
Not much. Most peers and hiring managers stopped paying attention to these ratings when they got into college, so the market's perception of your degree is some blended average of the programs' ratings over the past ~40 years. By the time rankings after you matriculated represent a meaningful portion of the average, your alma mater is no longer a particularly relevant part of your resume.
Not trying to be contrarian, but I had two friends literally pick between Ivies based on this very list (in 2015).
It’s generally accepted as “The List” by a lot of people. If you’re a parent with no other frame of reference, The List has a serious impact.