U.S. News defends controversial college rankings

What High School Students Really Think of the Rankings
Robert Morse Oct. 2, 2007

U.S. News and our chief critic, Lloyd Thacker of the Education Conservancy, apparently now agree on at least one thing that is very important: The U.S. News college rankings aren't what high school students are focusing on or worried about when they are going through the college application process.

Thacker did not mention U.S. News once at his session "College Admissions: What Are Students Learning?" on September 29 at the 2007 annual meeting of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Instead, he spoke about "how the selective admissions experience is shaping students' attitudes and behaviors" based on the results of a research project conducted by the Education Conservancy. The organization conducted eight focus groups at high schools in Atlanta, Boston, San Francisco, and Chicago (half public and half private high schools) to learn about the views of high-achieving students toward the college admission process.
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