Press Release

CONTACT: Debra Humphreys
(202) 387-3760
E-mail: humphreys@aacu.org

College Rankings Lead Prospective Students Astray, Argues New Book

College Rankings Exposed Urges Applicants to Probe Learning Aims and Practices in Search for Educational Quality

Washingont, DC—September 5, 2003—A new book published by Peterson's, Inc., College Rankings Exposed: The Art of Getting a Quality Education in the 21st Century, argues for a new focus for college admissions planning and steers applicants away from reliance on simplistic rankings.

Including a useful set of questions to guide applicants and a foreword by AAC&U president, Carol Geary Schneider, this book provides a platform for a more nuanced national discussion about what constitutes quality in undergraduate education. College Rankings Exposed argues that traditional rankings of colleges and universities create a false impression that the college experience can be reduced to a single number, encouraging students to scramble up a nonexistent ladder. Instead of numbers, this publication provides a broader picture of what college can offer in terms of students' own interests, aspirations, and strengths.

Contributors offer students, parents, and educators advice on what to look for in a high-quality education and how to take control of the college admissions process. A valuable and thoughtful resource for guidance counselors, prospective students, and their parents, College Rankings Exposed maps out a process to conduct an effective college search and encourages students and their parents to ask the hard questions as they forge their way through the maze of college admissions.

In her foreword, President Schneider suggests that, “as higher learning becomes a new basic for our knowledge-intensive society, it is time to steer prospective students toward forms of college planning that requires greater analysis.” She urges prospective students to begin by asking three crucial questions:

• In a world characterized by complexity, interdependence, conflict, and change, what kinds of learning will I need as a person, a citizen, and a participant in a rapidly
  changing economy?
• How do the campuses I am considering help students gain these kinds of learning?
• What will each of these colleges and universities expect me to accomplish and how do their expectations fit with my own learning goals?

College Rankings Exposed offers myriad examples from pacesetting colleges and universities offering new, proven programs and teaching practices that lead to powerful student learning outcomes appropriate for 21st century challenges. Many of these institutions have been identified as leadership schools by AAC&U's national initiative, Greater Expectations: The Commitment to Quality as a Nation Goes to College.
In her foreword, President Schneider also urges students, especially those who are first in their family to go to college, to learn more about the advantages of a liberal education rather than rejecting this form of education as a luxury. Schneider explains how liberal education and career preparation aren't mutually exclusive options. She suggests that, “students need not choose between liberal arts or preprofessional curriculum.” Instead, she argues, “the choice is between an education that ensures breadth, focus, intellectual flexibility, and integration across different fields of study rather than targeted or narrow training in a specific area of human endeavor.”

For information or to purchase a copy of College Rankings Exposed, see www.petersons.com/collegerankings.

For information about AAC&U's national initiative, Greater Expectations: The Commitment to Quality as a Nation Goes to College, and leadership institutions identified as part of that initiative, see www.aacu.org/gex/index.cfm.

AAC&U is the leading national association devoted to advancing and strengthening liberal learning for all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Since its founding in 1915, AAC&U's membership has grown to more than 1000 accredited public and private colleges and universities of every type and size.

AAC&U functions as a catalyst and facilitator, forging links among presidents, administrators, and faculty members who are engaged in institutional and curricular planning. Its mission is to reinforce the collective commitment to liberal education at both the national and local levels and to help individual institutions keep the quality of student learning at the core of their work as they evolve to meet new economic and social challenges.

Information about AAC&U membership, programs, and publications can be found at www.aacu.org.