Columbia becomes “unranked”, losing its No. 2 spot in the U.S. News rankings

nytimes.com

6 pointslazyjeff2 comments

This is the original analysis by one of Columbia's math professors that led to this investigation: https://www.math.columbia.edu/~thaddeus/ranking/investigatio...

My own reading is that the math professor's analysis is quite credible, and that Columbia did indeed cheat the rankings by reporting "creative statistics".

The US News rankings have been considered dubious at best for some time.

The Rankings Farce ‘U.S. News’ and its ilk embrace faux-precise formulas riven with statistical misconceptions. https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-rankings-farce

Do the ‘U.S. News’ Rankings Rely on Dubious Data? Researchers who submit to the publication say survey answers are subject to errors, ambiguity, and pressure to look good. https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-far-from-perfect-data-...

Are Rankings Being Rigged (Again)? Two lawsuits charge that the Rutgers Business School inflated its rank by hiring its own students through a placement company. https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2022/04/18...

Because of the enormous influence US News rankings can have on student choice, it's clear that universities have financial incentives to game the numbers.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com