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How the U.S. News Ranks Make Applying to College A Commercial Experience - The Atlantic

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Colleges and universities have become a marketplace that treats student applicants like consumers. Why? This is the third story in a three-part series looking at elite-college admissions. Read the first story here and the second one here. When the U.S. News & World Report rankings were first published in 1983, they equipped students with what had previously seemed to be top-secret information about colleges and universities. They highlighted the practical role of higher education—something in which students (and their families) were investing to improve their lives. “College is expensive,” said Robert Morse, the chief data strategist for U.S. News, via email. “U.S. News’s mission is to arm students with good data, enabling them to sift through lots of complicated information when deciding which school is the right fit for them.” The rankings allow students to compare schools in an (arguably) apples-to-apples way—allowing students to, according to Morse, “navigate the complex process of

This is the third story in a three-part series looking at elite-college admissions. Read the first story here and the second one here . When the U.S. News & World Report rankings were first published in 1983, they equipped students with what had previously seemed to be top-secret information about colleges and universities. They highlighted the practical role of higher education—something in which students (and their families) were investing to improve their lives. “College is expensive,” said Robert Morse, the chief data strategist for U.S. News , via email. “ U.S. News ’s mission is to arm s

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