Rankings have become a facet of the life every type of product, business, or experience offered to the public consumer in the western hemisphere…and abroad. Our human nature is to determine the value or relative value of something based on, well, what is reputed or judged to be the best by an outside body. And of course, we want the best in everything we seek to invest in or purchase, higher education for our children or for ourselves being no exception.

The biggest problem with this is, sometimes the place of ranking or reputation of an educational institution takes precedence over our considering carefully what we actually wanted in the first place and what suits our specific needs and goals. A political science minded competitive athlete who likes big crowds and learns best in lectures, choosing CalTech because it is ranked on top of one ranking of world research universities, (with tutorial style learning and less than 1,000 students, focussed on science and engineering) is akin to ordering the filet minon topped with seafood, when you are a vegetarian who is allergic to shellfish. But it’s the best!

Consider also the faultiness of a narrow basis for decision-making. There are rankings such as the US News and World Report, Maclean’s and the Times Higher Education rankings (just released for this year) which cover colleges and universities in the U.S., Canada, and the world abroad, and in various sub-categories. Note that the sub-categories are essential to at least make an attempt at apples to apples comparisons, which you should be considering as well. There are rankings sorted by academic program and by best economical value, such as in Kiplinger’s Best Value Colleges and Public Universities rankings.

Guess what – the various higher education rankings don’t all agree on which is “best” or “top ten” because they use different methodologies and consider different criteria. And the criteria that they are using, such as dollar amount of research grants, or size of library holdings may have very little to do with what you want or need! Oh, and let’s not forget that the individual institutions require a measure of self preservation in reporting their statistics, and may err on the side of what is favourable for their own institution’s reputation both in reporting and by design.

Don’t get me wrong. There is a place for rankings in higher education. After all, it’s what the public wants! It makes the whole process of selection seem “easier”. And taken in part, some of the statistical data can be very informative. Just be careful not to confuse any ranking for the official gospel when it comes to your own judgement of an institution’s merits or fit, for you or your children. Do your own homework, or find someone to help you.