Rankings, Rankings

As blog readers will know, there has been a brouhaha about US News & World Report rankings of law schools and med schools, with some of the schools refusing to participate. The resulting fuss led to US News making some changes in methodology. Apparently, to preempt a similar episode with regard to its college rankings, US News announced changes in methodology for that set (which has yet to appear):

The 2024 Best Colleges methodology will place greater emphasis on outcomes for graduating college students. Updates will include:

• Increased weighting on a schools' success in graduating students from different backgrounds; and
• Removing the following factors as ranking indicators: alumni giving, faculty with terminal degree, class size and high school standing; such factors will be included in school profiles and comparison tools for students.

Full release at https://www.usnews.com/info/blogs/press-room/articles/2023-05-19/u-s-news-announces-survey-distribution-date-and-outcomes-focused-updates-to-methodology-for-upcoming-best-colleges-rankings.

The last time the rankings were released (2021), Berkeley and UCLA tied for #20. By the way, US News is not all that keen on California as a state, ranking it #33 in its "best states" listing, with affordability - a component of "opportunity" - being the main drag:

Source: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings.

(We haven't heard from the governor about the state's rank.)