Approaching the College Search: College Rankings and Reputation

What About A School's Reputational "Rank" and its Admissions Criteria

The school's reputational "rank" in U.S. News and World Report and its admissions criteria - those dreaded ranges of GPAs and SAT scores that appear in the description of every school in the books. How should these considerations guide your selection of schools?

"I don't want to admit it, but the reputation of your college or university matters," Dan says. "Like it or not, much of the world places stock in reputation and excellence by association. When you start hunting for a job, the reputation of the institution you are coming out of carries weight. It had some impact on my success in applying to medical school."

"Yale's reputation has definitely impacted my career development very positively," Tom agreed. "I've frequently observed that when I'm involved in discussions of projects, that affiliation with Yale gives me an instant stamp of credibility and legitimacy."

So what do you do? Junk all the work you just did trying to figure out what was important to you and just apply to the highest-ranked school you get into?

No, no, no . . .

First of all, you need to remember that the U.S. News and World Report rankings are driven by a number of factors, including things like student selectivity and graduation rates that might not matter a whit to you. The rankings likely also completely ignore many factors, like a school's social atmosphere, course or major offerings, or geographic location - things that may be extremely important to you.

So do you junk the rankings then?

Not exactly. But the reason we didn't put "reputation" into the factors for consideration is that we wanted you to decide the factors that mattered to you on your own. Once you've done that, you can consider the reputation of schools that offer all or most of the things that are important to you and let it guide you in making close calls.

"I think that schools' reputations fall into broad categories, like 'great,' 'good,' 'fair,' and 'never heard of it,'" Zoe says. "Wellesley's reputation certainly had a positive impact for me in grad school and beyond, but I don't think the distinctions are that meaningful outside of these bands."

And what of the admissions criteria, then?

When you apply for admission to college, a school will examine an entire constellation of factors in considering your candidacy. The first factor can be broadly referred to as your high school academic record, comprised of your high school (or prep school) GPA, your weighted and unweighted rank in class, the range and difficulty of courses you have taken, and the grades you earned in those courses. The second factor is your standardized test scores, including your SAT and the scores you've earned on any SAT II exams. The third factor, referred to generally as "extracurricular activities," includes the in-school and community activities you participated in and the degree of commitment and leadership you displayed in each, any interesting things you did with your summers, and any special talents or skills you possess. The fourth factor is the strength of your letters of recommendation - whether these letters shed any real light on you as a person and single you out from the crowd. The fifth factor is how you performed on your application essays - whether you were able to make a compelling case for your candidacy and whether your writing style in these essays seems to match up with the writing sample you provided on the SAT. The sixth factor is the on-campus or alumni interview. Other factors that may also be considered include your ethnicity, your major or expressed area of curricular interest, and whether your family has an alumni relationship with the college or larger university.

Looking at this list of factors, you can see that your high school grades and your test scores are going to play a crucial role in where you will be accepted. So within reason, you need to be realistic about the schools you apply to.

"You do have to be realistic about your chances," Kevin noted. "Although you never know what ultimately makes the difference up or down to an admissions committee, you'll know if you've got a good shot at the premier schools or not. If you don't, no amount of legerdemain will deceive them into thinking that a guy with a 3.0 GPA and no sports skills belongs at Princeton."

"But don't be afraid to apply to reach schools," Lyndsee challenged. "You never really know what they're looking for to fill out the class, and you might be the one who has it!"

As you consider schools, you should place them into one of three categories: (1) "likely" schools - places where your credentials generally exceed the published averages for that school and where your admission is likely; (2) "coin toss" schools - schools where your credentials generally fall in the middle of published averages and where, therefore, many students with credentials similar to yours will be accepted and rejected; and (3) "reach" schools - schools where something else in your admissions package: a knockout essay; a killer interview; consistent, stellar recommendations; an exceptional talent in a particular area; or an obvious "fit" with the school in some other way - is going to have to carry you.

As you do this, do not disqualify any school simply because it is a reach for you. The best colleges and universities in the United States are reach schools for nearly all their applicants. No one is a surefire admit to Yale, Williams, Juilliard, or the like. Just be honest about the way you categorize your schools so that you don't end up with too many reach schools and not enough coin tosses.

How many, you ask?

Ultimately, the number of schools that you take to the next stage of the process is up to you. At a minimum, though, we suggest that you apply to no fewer than two fit schools, six to eight coin toss schools, and two to four reach schools. We've known good students who have applied to as many as twenty-five schools; and, of course, if you are one of the lucky people who get admitted by early action or early decision to their top-choice school, you'll only apply to one. For most people, though, the final number tends to range between eight and fourteen schools.

Your list will be a work in progress for some time. Get comfortable with that reality and don't try to hurry yourself down to a final list. Part of the decision-making process requires some time for you to process and reflect on all the information and impressions you are gathering. As your friends go through the same effort, they may identify schools that deserve a look from you, and vice versa. Be sure that you never apply to a college just because your friends do"but if their research turns up a school that fits your profile, by all means add it to your list.

Oh, and there's one more really important thing.

You need to make yourself and us a promise. Repeat after us:

"I will not apply to any school that I would not attend if it was the only place I got in."

In addition to pure common sense, this is also a matter of economics and time management. You will already be applying to a pretty large number of schools. That will be both expensive and time-consuming to do well. There is simply no point in going through this process with a school if you know you wouldn't actually go there if you got in.