Rethinking Rankings
After losing second place in the U.S. News Rankings, Columbia University withdrew from the upcoming 2023 U.S. University Rankings
The U.S. News canceled Columbia’s number 2 spot on its list after Michael Thaddeus, one of Columbia University’s math professors, posted a 21 paged article explaining the flaws of Columbia’s data on his website. The suspension prompted Columbia University to secede from the 2023 U.S. News Rankings and probably the future ones. Coincidentally, in July, Sam Zhou, a student from University of Pennsylvania, pointed out fellow Ivy League university UPenn had submitted misleading data to the U.S. News Rankings as well. They only counted the number of undergraduate students and left out graduate students to lower the student-faculty ratio.
The argument in the NYT article that “the biggest beneficiaries may be Harvard and M.I.T” after “the Ivy League said that Columbia University would not participate in the next rankings” made me rethink if there is a real benefactor in the college admissions game.
College rankings have become one of the most essential references for many high school students and their families. Therefore, some have overworked themselves to qualify for entry at the highly-ranked, "good universities” so that they can make their families proud. However, the president of Princeton, Christopher Eisgruber, once argued “ the rankings game is a bit of mishegoss— a slightly daft obsession that does harm when colleges, parents or students take it too seriously.”
President Eisgurber’s words resonate with me, as I believe college education is meant to be pursued at a university that suits you best rather than the highest ranked university. For any student, the fulfillment that comes from studying what they love far surpasses that of studying at a high-ranking university about a topic that they might not be passionate about.
The obsession over ranking could prevent us from pursuing what we really love, just like how I gave up my true love for photography over participation in a math competition. At the age of eleven, I found a great zeal for photography after receiving my first camera from my father as a birthday gift. I started to take pictures of stories that my eyes witnessed every day, including stray cats on the road, crying infants in their parent’s arms, and so on. However, a math competition organized by my school that could enrich my resume when applying to middle schools conflicted with time I used to spend on taking pictures. Thinking of pausing my photography career for a short period of time and getting back after getting into a better middle school, I sacrificed most parts of my leisure time on preparing for the competitions with irresolutions. The result seemed to be fairly thrilling as I won third place at the competition. However, from then until just last year, I did not pick up a camera. I don't want to deceive myself. Rankings still have their appeal to me, but I'm not going to put rankings prior to my interests.
Knowing what I know now, I would pursue my passion over an artificially made-up ranking because authentic interest is the best teacher. If you pursue your interest, your passion for the topic will motivate you to work hard. With effort, you will eventually rank high.
Works Cited:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/us/us-news-rankings-columbia.html