Should There Be An Alumni Factor In College Rankings?
Time to Up-End College Rankings?
“Student-faculty ratios, graduation rates and cost of attendance all are valid measures of a school’s quality – and are central criteria used in many popular college rankings. But as families grow more concerned about high tuition costs and low job-placement rates, a new ranking system is betting they’ll be more interested in alumni outcomes. That is, the school’s success in graduating men and women who are prepared to meet the demands of today’s job market and workplace. Alumni Factor, launching Monday, weighs data including graduates’ household income, net worth, whether alums would return or recommend the school to others, immediate job placement and more to rank 177 U.S. colleges.”
blog.wsj.com
This is an interesting idea. I think that many people will be evaluating the alumni more carefully now that simply having a degree is not enough. There is also a sense of pride that comes with attending a school that has had very successful students in the past, it believe it makes one feel that they too are capable of great things. At http://collegeliving3.wordpress.com/ I hope to address the idea of a schools alumni factoring in the important decision of which school to attend.
Yes, there should be an alumni factor in college rankings. In fact, I find it surprising it has not yet been the case. The alumni are “the end products” of a college/university. So what jobs they get, how they use the knowledge acquired during studies, should be important for the higher education institutions.