rankings, year in and year out
August 20, 2010 9:55 PM Subscribe
Is it possible to compare USNews college rankings over several years?
Is there a way to view successive year's US News and World Report college rankings to see how a college has moved in the ranks over time? My google fu is failing me on this one.
Is there a way to view successive year's US News and World Report college rankings to see how a college has moved in the ranks over time? My google fu is failing me on this one.
Response by poster: Thanks meta.mark. I think they're pretty silly too. I just noticed that my alma mater has doubled tuition over the past decade but fallen six spots in the ranking. The rankings aren't all that useful for assessing the quality of education at a given school, but they may be crude metric to show that an administration is foolish to raise tuition and spend a fortune on fancy cafeterias rather than investing in faculty, educational resources or the well loved student operated radio station that was the highlight of the school.
posted by ladypants at 10:26 PM on August 20, 2010
posted by ladypants at 10:26 PM on August 20, 2010
Response by poster: I vaguely remember the school clocking in around #12 - tied with Wash U, and now they are closer to #20, but I want to see if my vague memory is correct.
posted by ladypants at 10:30 PM on August 20, 2010
posted by ladypants at 10:30 PM on August 20, 2010
It's been a couple of years since I worked in institutional research (campus statistics) but I believe that schools that are in the rankings get access to an area of the US News website where it is possible to view a few years' worth of data. I don't know if this is the same thing that's included in their "Premium Online Edition" for anyone who pays them $19.95.
The school's office of institutional research might be able to give you the answer, depending on how much the institution cares about that sort of thing . Also, often the highest ranking a school has ever reached is used in it's promotional material long after the rankings have changed, so it may be somewhere on their website.
Given what you're interested in, you might want to look at the school's Common Data Set (where US News gets much of it's information) directly. There's a section called Enrollment and Persistence that might be interesting; retention and graduation rates can be strong indicators of a school's quality. State schools are required to make their Common Data Sets available to the public (usually posted on their website), YMMV with a private school, but if you're really curious it's worth asking.
posted by camyram at 6:15 AM on August 21, 2010 [3 favorites]
The school's office of institutional research might be able to give you the answer, depending on how much the institution cares about that sort of thing . Also, often the highest ranking a school has ever reached is used in it's promotional material long after the rankings have changed, so it may be somewhere on their website.
Given what you're interested in, you might want to look at the school's Common Data Set (where US News gets much of it's information) directly. There's a section called Enrollment and Persistence that might be interesting; retention and graduation rates can be strong indicators of a school's quality. State schools are required to make their Common Data Sets available to the public (usually posted on their website), YMMV with a private school, but if you're really curious it's worth asking.
posted by camyram at 6:15 AM on August 21, 2010 [3 favorites]
For individual institutions, could you look at their school newspapers' archives? I know mine has annual articles saying "Oh em gee we rose a spot! We almost beat (insert other local school here)!"
posted by good day merlock at 6:45 AM on August 21, 2010
posted by good day merlock at 6:45 AM on August 21, 2010
I looked into this last week. What I did was go to the library that had old US News' on microfiche.
The data US News has printed has changed over the years, making this approach problematic. For instance Law Schools, in the last decade the top 100 schools are printed, and tiers 3 and 4 are alphabetized. In the 90's, if my memory serves, the top 50 schools were listed, then the second, third and fourth tier was alphabetized.
posted by rakish_yet_centered at 6:50 AM on August 21, 2010
The data US News has printed has changed over the years, making this approach problematic. For instance Law Schools, in the last decade the top 100 schools are printed, and tiers 3 and 4 are alphabetized. In the 90's, if my memory serves, the top 50 schools were listed, then the second, third and fourth tier was alphabetized.
posted by rakish_yet_centered at 6:50 AM on August 21, 2010
U.S. News adjusts its scoring criteria every year, rendering any year-to-year comparison rather subjective, if not entirely pointless. Keep that in mind even if you don't plan to take any single ranking seriously.
posted by decagon at 12:59 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by decagon at 12:59 PM on August 21, 2010
Response by poster: Thank you all for your help!
Thanks Camyram! The raw data from the school is much better than any ranking, and than you for letting me know what to ask for! I don't know if the school will make their data public, but it never hurts to ask.
Rakish! Microfiche! That's brilliant. I'm sure a library has either bound editions or fiche that I can browse. I forgot how things worked before the internet.
decagon, you're completely right - if they didn't mix it up from year to year the rankings wouldn't change much and there would be no suspense, surprises or change to drive issue sales. They post the score breakdown - reputation, selectivity blah blah blah, and give the formula they use each year, so it may be comparing apples and oranges, but at least I'll know how they turned last year's apple into this year's orange.
posted by ladypants at 1:25 PM on August 21, 2010
Thanks Camyram! The raw data from the school is much better than any ranking, and than you for letting me know what to ask for! I don't know if the school will make their data public, but it never hurts to ask.
Rakish! Microfiche! That's brilliant. I'm sure a library has either bound editions or fiche that I can browse. I forgot how things worked before the internet.
decagon, you're completely right - if they didn't mix it up from year to year the rankings wouldn't change much and there would be no suspense, surprises or change to drive issue sales. They post the score breakdown - reputation, selectivity blah blah blah, and give the formula they use each year, so it may be comparing apples and oranges, but at least I'll know how they turned last year's apple into this year's orange.
posted by ladypants at 1:25 PM on August 21, 2010
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posted by meta.mark at 10:18 PM on August 20, 2010