This year, Wesleyan has been named the “hottest for diversity” by Newsweek, a top school for females by CosmoGIRL! and the number nine liberal arts college in the country by U.S. News and World Report. Instead of championing these distinctions, however, President of the University Douglas Bennet recently wrote an op-ed in New York Newsday criticizing the rankings.
“There is a serious danger in this preoccupation for students and for schools, both of whom tend to take the rankings far too seriously for their own good,” Bennet wrote in the Sept. 12 Newsday article. “It’s time to declare partial independence from the rankings.”
Bennet cited a student deciding to matriculate to the University based on hearing “Meet the Flintstones” on the South College bells, something typical of Wesleyan but indiscernible from a rankings list, as another way in which students evaluate colleges.
Justin Harmon, Director of University Communications, agreed that college ranks are a detriment.
“If students are thinking too much about the rankings, as opposed to how they fit with the schools on their list, they may not make the best choices about where to attend,” he said.
This year saw a new participant in the ratings game. CosmoGIRL!, the teenage-reader version of Cosmopolitan, compiled its own college guide of schools it believes offer females the highest chance of success in college and after graduation.
Schools were chosen based on consultations with admissions officers and guidance counselors nationwide and ultimately selected based on six criteria. The list, featured in their October 2004 issue, will become an annual staple of the magazine. Women’s colleges were excluded from the list because they were presumed to offer nurturing environments to females, according to CosmoGIRL!’s Sept. 15 press release.
The six key factors considered in CosmoGIRL!’s decision—small class size, prominent female faculty members, strong women’s sports programs, a career center that encourages internships, chances to hold leadership positions in and activities and an active alumni network—were checked against data from The Princeton Review.
In U.S. News and World Report, Wesleyan is tied with Haverford College for the ninth place slot in the list of national liberal arts colleges. This ranking is an improvement from last year’s number 11 ranking. Key factors for judging schools, including Wesleyan’s low acceptance rate of 27 percent and high graduation rate of 91 percent, brought its scores up for this year’s rankings.
Patrick Meaney ’07 said he looked at college rankings when he was in the process of deciding where to go, but he did not base his decision on them.
“I guess for me, since I wanted to study film, that was the biggest thing,” Meaney said. “Also when I came here, it seemed to have the best vibe.”
Meaney added that he does see value in attending a top-ten liberal arts school.
“It’s good since the better the reputation, the more likely you are to get a job,” he said. “It’s like an added bonus.”
A separate list, Kaplan-Newsweek’s 2005 “How to Get Into College Guide,” listed Wesleyan as the “Hottest for Diversity” in its list of America’s 25 “hottest schools.” Students of color make up more than a third of the Wesleyan population. Roughly seven percent of all students at Wesleyan are international.
While rankings may display diversity, Christian Lanser, Associate Dean of Admission, said it’s impossible for them to convey the numerous other appealing characteristics of a school.
“I think it’s unfortunate that [rankings] have as much impact as they do,” he said. “If you look carefully at the rankings for the top ten schools, you see ten great institutions, any one of which can provide a student with a phenomenal educational experience.”
The actual rankings, he said, may be determined by differences of a few tenths or hundredths of a point.
“Unfortunately, students only see one through 10 and are influenced by that rather than looking at how good a fit a specific school is for an individual student, ” he said, adding that the admissions materials the University sends to prospective students do not mention the University’s rank.
Natalia Ortiz ’05, a senior interviewer in the Office of Admission, said that Wesleyan’s rank does not appear to be the main draw for prospective students who visit.
“I’ve never been asked about rankings,” she said. “If they’re here, they’re interested. Usually once students have seen the campus, it makes them look at the great things about Wesleyan and not look at the rankings or statistics.”
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