Wanted: Consumer guide to American higher education

By William Patrick Leonard. Since their beginning, the major tertiary ranking systems have attracted increasing readership and revenue for most of the publishers with each annual release. While their popularity has increased, their utility to parents and students considering study-abroad options has remained negligible at best. As noted in my previous blogs, a few marginally helpful rankings and-or comparable data sources have emerged in the United States market. They include The Alumni Factor, College Miner and Washington Monthly. Even with their exclusive US focus, in aggregate their coverage is hardly representative of the thousands of US institutions that would support detailed comparisons. Thus, many institutions that might merit serious consideration may be overlooked until a more comprehensive comparative data source emerges. Read more...