Through Others' Eyes

Enjoy the rankings, but it's best to keep a healthy dose of skepticism when looking at ourselves...

College officials tend to be a bit schizophrenic about college rankings--seeing them as well-intended but flawed and frequently inappropriate gauges of an institution's value and values, but also feeling flattered when they are positive and concerned about appearances if they slide.

At Pomona, the news from the heavy players in the rankings game over the past year has been consistently bright. The College was again ranked in a tie for fifth among undergraduate liberal arts colleges in America by U.S. News & World Report. And The Best Colleges, by Princeton Review, even named Pomona the college with the nation's "happiest students," a ranking that led more than one newpaper account to wonder if nearby Disneyland had lost its claim to fame as "the happiest place on earth."

In fact, the great majority of what the guides have to say about Pomona is unambiguously effusive. Here are a few excerpts from the past year.

• The Hidden Ivies: Thirty Colleges of Excellence (Greene's Guides)--"The challenges one will encounter at Pomona belie the beautiful setting and pace of Southern California. Pomona selects intelligent academic performers who want a first-rate education and who will take a good deal of initiative in planning their studies and overall experience. They also look for the more mature candidate who will embrace the great mix of student types and the open-minded attitude that prevails."
• The Insider's Guide to the Colleges (Yale Daily News)--"The three best things about attending Pomona are 'the students are amazing, the professors really care, and the weather is spectacular.'"
• The Fiske Guide to Colleges--"Pomona College, located just 35 miles east of the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, is the undisputed star of the Claremont College Consortium. This small, elite institution is the best liberal arts college in the West... With stellar liberal arts and a brilliant atmosphere, Pomona College wins for best supporting role."

According to President Peter W. Stanley, college rankings are simply an inescapable part of our information culture. "We live in a world where people habitually consult a guidebook before choosing an appliance, a restaurant, or a recording of Beethoven's Ninth," he notes. "Since selecting a college is a vastly more consequential decision, they naturally want to know as much as possible before committing themselves. Most of the guidebooks try to meet that need conscientiously. We work with them when given the opportunity to do so, and we're proud to be thought one of America's best."

However, he adds, their information is more limited and their interpretation of data more subjective than they are usually willing to admit. "Most important of all, the things they measure are at best only proxies for what really matters: quality, integrity, and the capacity to build in graduates the intellectual resilience to live wisely in a changing world."

By any standard, some of the guides seem strangely inconsistent. Though Pomona topped Princeton Review's "Happiest Students" category, it didn't make the top 20 in "Best Quality of Life." Does that imply that Pomona students are happy in spite of their quality of life? Also in that particular guide, Pomona placed 15th in "Best Overall Academic Experience for Undergraduates"--a seriously impressive ranking. However, it also placed 15th in the category of "Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians."

Huh?

In the final analysis, Stanley believes most guides are more entertainment than consumer aid. "They only become harmful," he adds, "if people take them too seriously."

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