18. College Rankings Really Do Influence Which Schools Students Apply To

Eleanor Barkhorn begins her article by addressing a past report that warned readers not to be influenced by college rankings. Yet, a new study showed that rankings have a significant effect on which colleges students apply to, showing how students seem to not have followed the advice. Even though colleges in the list of "Party Schools" or "Jock Schools" did not have an increase in the number of their applications, colleges in the list of "Happy Students" and "Most Beautiful Campus" did. In addition, schools in academic rankings seem to be the ones that receive the largest increase in applications. Simply appearing in the list provides a boost, but there is no direct correlation between the school's position in the list and the amount of increase it receives. A possible explanation as to why so many students use rankings when applying to college might be the lack of other readily available information, since college visits and discussions with alumnae are, in most cases, expensive.

The author writes in her own unique way so that her writing is kept fresh. Barkhorn begins her article in a very interesting manner, since she addresses a past report. To keep her writing diverse and exciting to read, the author also uses humor in some occasions. Such an example can be found in the second paragraph, "A new report from the American Educational Research Association shows that (sigh) no one is listening to us." Additionally, Barkhorn also uses a series of exclamations to express an idea, "The rankings encourage colleges to game the system! They drive up tuition! They exacerbate status anxiety!" This different style of writing keeps her article interesting to read. Furthermore, Barkhorn introduces another idea in the sixth paragraph. In order to do so, she decides to set up a few reflective questions first so the reader is presented to the main concept before. In all of these, Barkhorn has found a way to vary her style of writing so it is kept fresh and unique. In this way, the reader finds himself fully engaged in the article.

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/01/college-rankings-really-do-influence-which-schools-students-apply-to/283151/