College Rankings: 5 Things That Matter More When it’s Time to Apply

It’s college rankings season, and no one has more of a love-hate relationship with these annual lists than academia — except maybe parents.

Don’t get me wrong; data is great. As a parent on the college search myself, it is gratifying to have hard facts and boxes to check. But some commercial lists employ questionable methodology, and the plain truth is that whether a student will thrive at a particular school cannot be determined by an institution’s national ranking. Rather, some of the most...