collegerankings

Dr. Péter Érdi serves as the Henry R. Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies at Kalamazoo College, and he is the founding co-director of the study abroad program, Budapest Semester in Cognitive Science. Also the author of books on mathematical modeling of chemical, biological, and other complex systems, he has been published by big names such as Princeton University Press and MIT Press.

Today Péter joins the show to discuss a topic many people are familiar with but may not know much about: rankings, ratings, and lists. Listen in as he shares insights from his new book, Ranking: The Unwritten Rules of the Social Game We All Play, and explains why people attempt to rank everything in their lives, why we put so much faith in these rankings, and why lists are so attractive to us.

You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://bit.ly/2yrWdGL 

In this episode you will hear: (5:30) In this week’s news, an Atlantic article “How to Rank College Ranking Sites” by Will Dix. Dix does an outstanding job of highlighting the fact that there is a huge market for college rankings and he goes on to list and describe 13 ranking sites that families use amongst the various rankings that are available. Dix says he personally believes that all college rankings are inaccurate because you can’t quantity the imponderable, but he knows people are using them so he describes how the various rankings emphasize different things. (34:29) We are in Chapter 73 of 171 Answers and Mark shares his advice for students with disabilities. We talk about the kind of questions that students with disabilities need to ask when evaluating whether a college can properly serve them. We share where a student and parent should go on a college campus visit if the student has a disability. We also share a list of various disabilities and you will see how many different disabilities exist. A sizable portion of the population have a disability and this discussion is for you, but it is for all of us to better understand what a student with a disability should know. (45:23) For our question segment – we are responding to the breaking news around the College Board rolling out what they are calling the Environmental Context Dashboard. You may have heard this referred to as an “adversity score” or an “adversity index”; this is the label the media has put on this. This is the 4th and final part on the ECD and Mark is addressing the questions that remain unanswered and the controversies that will continue to loom. Mark shares a dozen different topics related to the ECD that are worth watching over the next few years. (62:35) Mark wraps up his interview with Dr. Josie Uribistondo in Preparation for the Personal Statement, Part 3. Josie and Mark have a great conversation as we compare notes as we talk about the most common errors we each see in our student’s essays. Josie talks about the importance of communicating values and how to show your emotional intelligence in your writing Josie exhorts the listeners to start early on their personal essays Dr. Josie shares various ways to conclude your essay Then Mark puts Josie on the hot seat and I think you will find it interesting and even entertaining. (74:22) Mark’s recommended resource of the week is the Twitter account @InsidehigherEd. If you want to follow the the latest breaking news, opinion, jobs, & resources for all of higher ed, this is a good a source as you will find. Don’t forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to   Every episode of Your College-Bound Kid will align with a chapter from the book 171 Answers to the Most-Asked College Admission Questions. To get a copy visit  and if you want to see what future episodes will cover just click the red button “See exactly what 171 Answers covers.

In this episode you will hear: (6:22)  In this week’s news, a Wall Street Journal article “Temple University Settles Suit Over Fudged Data on MBA Ranking”, by Kelsey Gee. Temple agrees to pay nearly $5.5 million to current and former business school students after the university acknowledged that their online MBA program’s top spot in a nationwide ranking was based on false data. The school admitted to no liability or wrongdoing as part of the settlement. We discuss how common it is to see colleges fabricate data for the rankings. We talk about the interest that students and parents have in rankings and we talk about the interest colleges have in the rankings. This produces a perfect storm. We encourage students and parents to have a healthy degree of skepticism when it comes to taking rankings as gospel. (18:12) We are in Chapter 70 of 171 Answers and it’s about how your child can avoid automatic denials if their high school file contains red flags. We discuss the five big areas where a student can have negative information in their file. Admissions officers often refer to this as “red flag” or just a “flag”. We share what these flags are and we also discuss what you can do to avoid having these flags sink your ship. We emphasize honesty and authenticity and we acknowledge that sometimes when you communicate a very plausible reason for the mishap, it still will not prevent a denial but the point is, that you want to give yourself the best possible chance while simultaneously being completely honest and truthful. We share how to do this and we also share how you can strengthen your case for addressing a flag/weakness/concern/risk factor by bringing in outside corroboration. (34:19) For our question segment – we are responding to the breaking news around the College Board rolling out what they are calling the Environmental Context Dashboard (ECD) so Mark is addressing questions that he has been receiving over the last week. Mark feels this ECD is one of the most profound potential changes to college admissions so Mark and Anika will take the next four weeks to talk about some component of the ECD. The outline for the next four weeks is as follows: Week 1) (this episode) What is the Environmental Context Dashboard and why is the College Board rolling it out? 2) What is the case against the Environmental Context being a good idea? 3) What is the case for the Environmental Context dashboard being a good idea? 4) What are the things to watch over the next few years regarding the rollout of the ECD, the reaction to the ECD and the impact of the ECD? If you want a detailed understanding of this new supplemental information that will appear alongside each student’s SAT score, this four part series should answer most if not all of your questions. We encourage you to tell those in your social circle about this four part discussion we are having. (55:00) Mark interviews Mr. Yancie Davis, Admissions Officer at Macalester College in Part III of Using Non-Cognitive variables to help with admission decisions. Yancie continues explaining to us what these 8 non-cognitive variables are. (66:00) Mark’s recommended resource of the week is the Twitter account @CollegeBoard. Mark will be sharing some of his favorite college admissions and college related Twitter accounts throughout the summer. To kick off this Twitter series, Mark starts out with the powerful organization that is in the news every day; it’s the collegeboard and the twitter account is simply, @CollegeBoard.  These guys own the SAT and AP exams, and the CSS PROFILE, which means you’ll get an easy way to stay on top of test dates and deadlines. Plus: practice questions and tips for test day, advice on narrowing down your college list, and testimonials from students on their experience applying for admission and financial aid. If you want to follow the latest with the Environmental Context Dashboard, or ECD, I know of no better Twitter account to follow than @CollegeBoard Another resource we referenced in the podcast is the following article, “Obsession With Academic Rankings Leads to Cheating by Colleges” This appeared in the Daily Breeze on Feb 5th, 2012   Don’t forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to   Every episode of Your College-Bound Kid will align with a chapter from the book 171 Answers to the Most-Asked College Admission Questions. To get a copy visit  and if you want to see what future episodes will cover just click the red button “See exactly what 171 Answers covers.

In this episode you will hear: 05:20 In this week’s news, we’re reviewing an article from the Washington Post, “Senators Urge the U.S. News and World Report to Overhaul the College Ranking Formula”, by Nick Anderson. 16:34 We are in Chapter 47 of 171 Answers and we are discussing what would be considered a competitive ACT or SAT score. 25:46 This week’s question is from a dad who wants to know how much debt his daughter should have through her PhD program. 36:38Mark wraps-up his interview with Ashley Sempowski, Assistant Director for Recruitment and Outreach for Springfield College, and they are talking about what you need to know about community colleges. 45:50  Mark’s recommended resource of the week is the blog at college-kickstart.com on Early Decision and Early Action Don’t forget to send your questions related to any and every facet of the college process to   Every episode of Your College-Bound Kid will align with a chapter from the book 171 Answers to the Most-Asked College Admission Questions. To get a copy visit  and if you want to see what future episodes will cover just click the red button “See exactly what 171 Answers covers.