College rankings worth considering

Thursday, November 22, 2012



Dear Mr. Bradshaw — I am applying to 10 or more colleges, and I came across the latest college rankings published by U.S. News & World Report.


How important are these rankings in getting a job after graduation, and how should I evaluate them? — Applicant

College rankings worth considering

Dear Applicant —

College rankings can be important for several reasons.

The most obvious is, they indicate the quality of the faculty and student body. In a nutshell, the best colleges draw the best students and professors.

Competition among schools is fierce, and the rankings serve as a measure of their success.

For example, the 2012 U.S. News & World Report rankings show the following admission selectivity rates that can used by employers as a gauge in recruiting employees.

• Indiana University is ranked 82nd with a 72 percent admissions rate.
• Purdue is ranked 65th with a 68 percent admissions rate.
• Notre Dame is ranked 17th with a 24 percent admission rate.
• Harvard and Princeton are tied and rank first with a 6 percent and 8.5 percent admissions rate, respectively.

Translated into practical terms, if you are applying for a summer internship, the selectivity of your college is a huge advantage. Many companies use these rankings to decide where to recruit and know that top colleges already have done much of the work for them by vetting students through the competitive application process.

In fact, many students are offered full-time employment after completing summer internships.

Take, for example, a student who is interested a career in finance. Despite the recent calamity in the economy, Wall Street still attracts the cream of the crop of economics majors.

To get an internship at one of the top firms is not easy.

The profile of the successful candidate is heavily skewed toward students at schools that score well in the rankings.

Company officials know that he or she must be an outstanding person to be admitted to a top college. The student will have had high scores on entrance examinations and an exemplary extracurricular activity record.

The years of hard work and preparation that precede admission to a top college are considered when employers are considering new hires.

After all, these companies are putting their futures in the hands of these young people, and they will be competing for promotions and greater responsibility throughout their careers.

To be sure, magazine rankings are not perfect predictors of future employment success.

You need to make sure that your college choice is a “good fit” for your career aspirations, and that you dedicate yourself to making the most of your undergraduate experience.There are close to 3,000 colleges to choose from nationwide and admission to these colleges is complicated.

Bradshaw college consulting takes the pressure off ensuring that your college search experience is one to look forward to rather than dread.

Work with a college consultant that can assist guide you through the proper way to write your essay, conduct your interview, test, and apply for financial aid.

Get help choosing the right college or getting into the college you desire to attend. Call: Toll Free: 866-687-8129

College rankings can matter

Does it really matter where you go to college? It might.

When making a higher education decision, you have many questions to answer. What can I afford? What do I want to study? What school will best prepare me for my career choice?

U.S. News and World Report’s annual ranking of universities should be required reading for all college applicants and their parents. Although many college officials say the tier in which a school is placed does not matter in recruiting, the report does make a difference.

Dropping even one notch below where it was on the list the previous year can affect corporate fundraising efforts, and alumni donations might plummet. Potential applicants read the rankings as a mark of quality, often making their decisions based upon the magazine’s findings.

College rankings can matter

High school guidance counselors, students and parents use the rankings as a measure of prestige and academic quality. Corporations always begin their recruiting efforts at top-ranked schools, and the best job offers generally go to the graduates of those institutions.

Alumni of highly ranked colleges often have better chances to get into medical school, law school and top graduate programs. Fellowship and grant money also flows uphill to the higher-ranking institutions.

I always tell my clients that attending a small, bachelor-degree granting institution is fine. However, if you want an advanced degree on your curriculum vitae, attending a highly ranked university will give you a leg up in the graduate school application process.

You’ll find that graduation from a top university will reap benefits when the time comes to ask your professors for references. Without excellent references, the fellowship money you need to stay in graduate school will be harder to attract.

The more prestigious the school, the easier it will be to obtain financial support, take advantage of foreign study programs and teaching opportunities.

Should you not attend a top-tier college, it does not mean the end of the world.

There are close to 3,000 colleges to choose from nationwide and admission to these colleges is complicated.

Bradshaw college consulting takes the pressure off ensuring that your college search experience is one to look forward to rather than dread. Work with a college consultant that can assist guide you through the proper way to write your essay, conduct your interview, test, and apply for financial aid.

Get help choosing the right college or getting into the college you desire to attend. Call: Toll Free: 866-687-8129

SAT Scandal Raises Questions About High School Pressure

Sam Eshaghoff, a 19-year-old sophomore at Emory University, was arrested for allegedly accepting cash payments to take the SAT for six students at his alma mater, Great Neck North High School – one of the top-rated high schools in the nation.

Great Neck North officials said they were appalled and reminded the public that all cheaters will face serious consequences while applauding the decision to hold the accused students legally accountable.

Having graduated from a top-rated, overly competitive, private high school only two years ago, I sympathize with the six accused Great Neck North students. While the media will undoubtedly portray these students as slackers who tried to cheat their way into top colleges, I will know the truth: These students just could not take the pressure any longer and cracked.

I have met a large number of students at the University of Southern California who were only one of fifteen students who somehow managed to graduate from an overcrowded public high school and attend a non-community college. I always hear about how few kids even consider going to college an option at these kinds of schools. It never gets any easier to hide my surprise when I hear about these stories.

Understand, in my graduating high school class of 140 students, 139 went to non-community colleges and universities, with about 40 of them ending up at ‘ranked’ top 20 schools. Sophomore year on, I had at least one daily conversation with teachers and advisors about what schools I wanted to attend. Not going to college was never an option.

In order to get into one of the colleges I talked about wanting to attend on a daily basis, though, I needed to do well on the dreaded SAT exam. Hours upon days upon weeks were devoted to SAT practice exams and classes. I never needed to truly understand the material on the test, but at least know it well enough to get the answers right on the standardized exam.

At the beginning of junior year, the U.S. News & World Report annual college rankings became my bible. I had the top-30 schools memorized back and forth. More importantly, I knew the scores I needed to get in.

Read More: SAT Scandal Raises Questions About High School Pressure | Neon Tommy