Quality Colleges vs. College Rankings

For the past 25 years, has introduced families to a systematic and logical method of identifying quality colleges. The approach is vastly different from the college rankings published annually by US News and World Report, which combines overall graduate and undergraduate factors to rank the schools. Mixing things like graduate school research publishing and grant writing with undergraduate offerings creates a meaningless comparison for a high school student when selecting colleges to apply to.

CPSi’s college comparison approach places major emphasis on the undergraduate programs. More specifically, qualities such as a mentoring environment, the power of collaborative studies among students, and a focus on in-depth, fearless learning lead to exploration, discovery, and success.

Feedback from thousands of CPSi alumni reveals that in-depth learning and discovery is linked with students’ feelings of accomplishment, satisfaction, and happiness. Students who graduate from smaller mentoring colleges that emphasize in-depth learning tend to be unafraid of tackling difficult tasks in their jobs. They self-identity as proactive problem solvers, leading to quicker promotion and higher income. An October 2018 article from Inside Higher Ed points to similar conclusions from a Stanford study of US News rankings; the rankings often leave families confused and lead them to make decisions based on irrelevant information when choosing undergraduate colleges.

To learn about identifying quality best-fit colleges with outstanding undergraduate programs, schedule to attend a private evaluation meeting.