‘No One Made U.S. News The Authority’: Rankings Draw Colleges’ Enmity — And Increasingly Their Disrespect
Colleges, including business schools, hate rankings. (That is, unless they do well in them.) Now it appears that years of concerted derision — coupled with some high-profile missteps by rankings publishers — are taking their toll.
A new survey by Kaplan, the global educational services company, finds ascendant the view that college and university rankings have "lost some of their prestige over the last couple of years." Three-quarters of more than 200 college admissions officers surveyed see rankings this way, up from 56% in 2023 — a striking finding that coincided with the release September 24 of the 2025 edition of one of the premier university rankings, by U.S. News & World Report .
But the Kaplan survey coincides with more than that: It also comes at a time when some of the country's most selective colleges and universities are rebelling against rankings' "outsized influence" in the admissions process — and several top schools have stopped, or are threatening to stop, participating .
Business schools were alerted to the erosion of trust in B-school rankings in spring 2024, when Kaplan and Manhattan Prep, a provider of test prep for the Graduate Management Admission Test and other entrance exams that is owned by Kaplan, surveyed more than 300 aspiring students and dozens of admissions officers at 70 of the top U.S. B-schools and found wide agreement for the proposal that rankings' reputations have recently taken a significant hit.
In one survey, 55% of respondents said they believe that rankings "have lost some of their prestige over the last couple of years"; 21% said they don't believe that to be the case, while 24% weren't sure. In a second poll, Manhattan Prep/Kaplan contacted 70 B-schools across the U.S., including 10 of the top 50 as ranked by U.S. News, between August 2023 and February 2024. Half of the admissions officers who responded said rankings have lost some of their prestige, a big jump from the 37% who held this opinion in Kaplan's previous survey .
However, even as the prospective students disparaged the importance of polls last spring, they were nearly unanimous (97%) in saying that a B-school's ranking would be critical to them in deciding where to ultimately enroll: 65% called it "very important" and 32% called it "somewhat important."
"Rankings," acknowledged one admissions officer, "are still valuable as one of many informational tools students consider when deciding where to apply"; however, "There are so many other resources, like social media, that I believe are more influential."
The new survey from Kaplan of more than 200 college admissions officers finds that 75% believe college and university rankings have lost some of their prestige. The survey also found that 13% of schools that currently participate in the rankings are considering dropping out or will definitely drop out. That latter percentage, however, is about the same as last year.
Opinions shared by admissions officers who participated in Kaplan's survey:
"Rankings are imperfect and the public puts far too much weight behind them without understanding or investigating methodology. Schools are in a game of who will flinch first on withdrawing, so the navel-gazing continues."
"I believe some schools cater to the rankings and give inaccurate information to look good. I don't think it should be a main factor in students finding the best fit."
"No one made U.S. News & World Report the authority on any of this. They shouldn't be allowed to galavant these rankings like they're the biblical word."
"I don't mind them, but U.S. News should make it clear that schools not ranked in the top 50 are not bad schools, and every student has a school that is right for them, even if it is ranked lower."
"Throughout the years, admissions officers have quipped that they don't get much sleep the night before the U.S. News rankings come out because of the pressure they feel from other top leaders at their institutions," says Jason Bedford, Kaplan senior vice president. "For many top-ranked schools, their placement on the list is a key recruitment and fundraising tool, making some administrators' jobs easier or more challenging, depending where they net out.
"At Kaplan, we believe that while the rankings do take into account important statistics like graduation rates and first-year retention rates, which could be helpful to applicants, the risk for prospective students is placing too much emphasis on it in determining where they ultimately enroll. Price and financial aid packages are additional key considerations and can be the lead drivers in a decision. We advise students and their parents to visit the schools they're interested in and connect with current students, alumni, and faculty to discuss their experiences. Through this discovery process, students and families may uncover other personal factors that may supersede the rankings and be surprised by what schools are the best matches."
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