Harvard Drops to No. 2, But First Years Unfazed

In May, the members of the Class of 2003 signed on to attend the top-ranked school in the country. Now, according to America's best-known college ranking system, they're going to number two.

In its annual college guide, released last month, U.S. News & World Report ranked Harvard second in its list of top universities, with a score of 93. The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) came out on top with a 100.

At last night's Opening Exercises in Tercentenary Theatre, those Harvard first-years who knew about the new rankings seemed unfazed by the change in Harvard's position.

"[The rankings] didn't really concern me....There's a lot of arbitrary things that go into those rankings," said Robert B. Willison '03. "Caltech is such a different school from Harvard, it's hard to think of them in the same category."

According to Harvard Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis '70-'73, prospective students and their parents seem unconcerned by the rankings change. She said she did not expect the change to affect the number of students applying to Harvard.

Lewis said Harvard--which tied with Princeton for the top spot last year--has never drawn attention to its U.S. News rank.

"When we've been number one, we've tried to downplay it," Lewis said. "We've always said that ordinal rankings are not as valuable as the wealth of information that U.S. News and other publications make available to students."

Caltech Provost Stephen E. Koonin said a numerical ranking system like the one used by U.S. News & World Report is not a comprehensive measurement of a college's worth.

"It's like using IQ as a measure of intelligence," he said. "It doesn't capture all the factors or all the dimensions of a school."

Koonin noted, however, that the publicity garnered by the U.S. News & World Report survey will probably help Caltech attract applicants and gain more recognition outside of the West Coast.

Caltech's jump from number four to number one in the rankings can largely be attributed to a change in the methodology of the U.S. News rankings.

The survey considers such factors as selectivity, faculty, graduation and retention rates, and financial resources. This year, the magazine put increased weight on a school's expenditure per student--a category in which Caltech, with its wealth of lab facilities, more than doubles the amount spent by Harvard, Princeton and Yale--as well as several other categories.

Koonin said Caltech's rise in the rankings from last year was due to changes in the survey's methodology, not to changes in Caltech. He adds that he expected the weightings to change again next year.

"Institutions change on a much longer time scale than the news cycle," he said.

Stephanie Lin '03 said she felt the rankings change had more to do with magazine sales than anything else.

"U.S. News changes its criteria each year to make the issue more interesting," Lin said. She added that she wasn't concerned by Harvard's drop in the rankings.

"Even if it's not number one, it's still Harvard."