Do University Rankings Matter?
To cut to the chase, yes and no. But hopefully by the end of the article, I can convince you the answer is, or at least to me, mostly yes.
In some Asian cultures where grades hold high importance, it’s largely the be-all and end-all of employment opportunities. In South Korea, a degree from the country’s top Holy Trinity of universities is almost a requirement to get your foot in the door of a large corporation or land a “good job” (refer to your nearest Asian parent for whatever that means).
However, the fact that there is no absolute answer to the question stems from a fundamental flaw in the global university ranking systems; these metrics are subjective to the different ranking institutions. On QS World University Rankings’ annual list for 2020, Massachusetts Institute of Technology tops the food chain whereas on Times Higher Education where Oxford ranks highest, it ranks #4. These discrepancies are a constant throughout but by comparing university standings between the various annual lists you can somewhat gauge the prestige of institutions.
Rankings And Their Drawbacks
The top ranking institutions base their annual list on the evaluation of a combination of dimensions from a cesspool of factors including research output, employability, academic reputation, and *cough* internationalization, *cough* or how many sacks of cash the university earns from international students (darn it, international tuition fees), among a multitude of others. Undoubtedly, some of the correlations between these dimensions and their favorable outcomes are clear. High research and journal output indicates skilled and knowledgeable faculty members, just as high employability among employers indicates, you guessed it, employability.
Now a huge drawback of these ranking institutions is that relatively qualitative and difficult to measure metrics such as teaching quality of faculty are also added to the mix, with other factors like industry connections and practical experience/training being completely disregarded. Another caveat is that lower ranking institutions may be allocating resources into more practical uses (e.g. hiring effective lecturers as opposed to researchers to conduct classes) rather than investing in efforts that raise rankings. But wait, it gets even more complicated: apparently rankings only matter if you go to a top-20-in-the-world university where the school’s brand name actually holds weight, apart from that it would only matter between a couple of dozens. For example, people would think Harvard is a more “prestigious” institution as compared to Ohio State University, but could you tell the difference between Rice and Ohio State University? Would you even care to find out?
I realize I might come across as a hater because I don’t go to Harvard but hear me out. The subjective and less than reliable information these metrics (and Reddit users, I know you’ve been to Reddit) provide complicates the process of making an informed decision on which institution to enroll in. Now, I know what you’re thinking, if the numerous university rankings do not accurately portray the quality and competence of institutions, does it even matter where I send my child to? Without taking into account the financial and location aspects of the university and focusing on just good ol’ objectivity on university rankings, the answer is.…
Yes it does, both in and not in the ways you think.
More Than Just A Brand Name?
Lest we forget, the majority of CEOs, start-up founders, politicians and other influential people are alumni, or drop outs, of high ranking institutions among the Dynamic Oxbridge Duo and the Ivy League clique. So it can be widely agreed that their big-brainness is reflected in their alma mater. Though not a completely accurate measure, university rankings are a good and somewhat reliable measure of a student’s capabilities. Though employers seem to be using it less and less, this generally still is the golden rule. There’s a reason the concept of “target schools” exist: companies like Goldman Sachs only hire graduates from a select few of universities because, hell, when I need finances numbering in the millions (I’m talking Scrooge McDuck millions) being managed I need the modern day Isaac Newton on the case. This sort of ties in to the fact that top schools offer important networking and industry connections which can quite literally make or break a career in some industries. Network opportunities also exist within student bodies: you’re more likely to rub shoulders with students whose parents are influential and/or involved in high barrier to entry industries. Just like the old people say, your net worth is your network!
Coming back to the topic of teaching quality, you’re also likely to have more skilled and knowledgeable faculty members conducting lectures and classes because, of course, a higher ranking institution would attract and employ the brightest academics. As mentioned earlier, one could say that this is reflected in the research output, quality, and therefore the bottom-line annual university rankings. However these professors are businessmen/scientists/researchers and not teachers by trade, what that means is that teaching quality is not a guarantee. From my own lil’ non-representative-of-every-student-but-maybe-some-of-y’all-can-relate experience these professors are better performing in one-on-one consultations or small group discussions; this is where the trove of knowledge is unlocked.
Oh yeah, and the degree to which how important university prestige is also vary with majors: among them are Computer Science, Engineering, and Finance which depend largely on this factor.
So those are the more obvious and explicit justifications of why university rankings matter, now let’s move on to more implicit ones.
Implicit Justifications
Higher up in the university ranking food chain, admissions are increasingly stricter due to the increasing selectivity of new admissions. Predictably top-tier universities would only select (or select a reasonable amount of) the best and brightest among a torrent of applications in efforts to maintain university prestige. Well, I’m sure you can picture how competitive and demanding the academic environment is. Here, this video about experience at Harvard gives an idea.
Okay, not to that degree of cutthroat-yness, but a healthily demanding academic environment can push, or day I say, inspire students to go above and beyond their current capabilities. If that all sounds like sunshine, butterflies, and rainbows in written form, more often than not the drive to rise up to the occasion is a necessity to keep up with academic demands and maintain/improve GPA scores. This brings us to another implicit reason university rankings matter, to keep up with demands that come with high ranking universities students will have to exercise values such as discipline, prioritization, and time-management to achieve stellar grades or at the very least stay afloat (or at the very very least, maintain bare minimum GPA as to not get booted from the program). You could even throw in ‘learning-to-work-in-groups’ and other soft-skills into the mix if you feel like it. As we intuitively know, these are skills that form the basis of goal achievement and also benefits us in different aspects of our lives. If you thought THAT was life-changingly important, it turns out that, according to the divine texts on Forbes and Business Insider, these skills are highly valued by employers (shocker). So it’s important to exercise these skills in an environment which allows us to actively do so and failure at it doesn’t amount to grave consequences like getting fired for running late to a client meeting (bad time-management, man).
Being surrounded by fellow smarty-pants or even accomplished academics also allows for a diffusion of good ideas and information within a community which may manifest in the form of more insightful discussions in groups or with academics and better quality of group assignments. It’s always good to have people challenge your capabilities in order to allow room for growth and improvement.
Though that is the outlook for an ideal world, the truth is that a lot of students struggle with these demands in universities across the board which unfortunately results in increases in drop outs and struggles with mental illness and self-harm.
Still Not Convinced?
Have I convinced you that university rankings matter? No? Okay.
A lot may say that rankings only matter as a fresh graduate and that further down the line, employers put more weight on relevant work experience both before and after university. In essence, this argues that employers are concerned with what an employee can do and the competencies she can bring to the company.
Now let’s peep it from a different angle. Disregarding work experience, university rankings are a show of a student’s/potential employee’s ability. Achieving good grades and enrolling into a top university shows that the student does possess competencies in the relevant field which may stem from pure talent or exercising the values mentioned earlier; making them indispensable members of a company’s workforce. I believe that these should be the focus when defining university rankings in addition to the capabilities that will be refined there as they are exposed to the various factors in the academic atmosphere and resources. It’s also important to note that extra-curricular activities also hold weight in applications to top universities. My guess is that volunteering or being executive members of a school club is a show of value in an individual like being initiative and working well with others. Not saying they should be completely thrown out of the equation because in fact they can’t, prestige factors and university brand name will forever be a deeply ingrained concept to anyone concerned with the topic of higher education. Problems arise when the underlying benefits of attending a top-tier school is ignored and too much emphasis is placed on university rankings.
So where does that bring us to? Rankings not being completely reliable and employers being more concerned about work experience/capabilities points us to the fact that graduating from a top school does not guarantee success. And so, the opposite must be true as well: graduating from a lower end school does not guarantee failure. Yes, a head start from being an alumni of a higher ranked institution is flipping amazing, but it’s not everything. University rankings do matter, but it should not overshadow the other practical factors that come into play: taking initiative to and building relevant skills, competencies, and qualifications that are relevant to your work be it during or after graduation, as well as developing the personal qualities to do so.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have three seasons of BoJack Horseman to binge on, and two tubs of popcorn to finish.
