Columbia University Drops Out of U.S. News Rankings for Undergraduate Schools
Columbia University announced on Tuesday that its undergraduate schools would no longer participate in the U.S. News & World Report college rankings, the first major university to refuse to supply information to the influential undergraduate guide for students and parents.
Columbia said it had become concerned about the “outsized influence” the rankings played in the undergraduate admissions process. “Much is lost in this approach,” the university said in an announcement signed by officials including Mary C. Boyce, Columbia’s provost.
Columbia also noted that the expected U.S. Supreme Court decision to end or curtail affirmative action “may well lead to a reassessment of admissions policies in ways we can’t even contemplate at this point.”
Columbia’s move comes after it dropped in the rankings released in September — to No. 18 from No. 2 — and after many prestigious law and medical schools, including Columbia’s, decided to boycott the listings by refusing to provide data to U.S. News. Calling the rankings unreliable and unfair, the schools criticized them for skewing educational priorities.
Source: The New York Times
