US News fun and Games

That old question of "how do you choose a college" used to be answered by what was nearby, or where had dad gone, or who had the niftiest football team.  Now, students pour through US News and World Report and stress about going to a university ranked a few notches below their comfort level. Over at Altercation Siva V. is tearing down the whole idea of the US News rankings rather effectively.

Whether you attend Northwestern University (ranked No. 14 by the 2007 U.S. News survey) or the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (ranked No. 38), you will use a biology textbook by Neil A. Campbell and Jane B. Reece. Your professors will all have degrees from one of the 100 or so outstanding graduate schools in the world. Most will have degrees from one of the 10 best graduate programs in their fields. They will all have learned the same research techniques as those at MIT and Stanford.

My college is near the bottom of the nationally ranked liberal arts colleges.  Numerous graduates of my college currently hold teaching positions at ivy league universities. 'Nuff said.