Send Comments to the Editors

U.S. Mail:
The Rice Thresher
6100 Main Street (MS-524)
Houston, TX 77005-1892

I'll admit that I, too, consulted the venerable U.S. News and World Report College Survey before making my selection (and because of it, I wasted 50 bucks applying to Yale), and I'll concede that the rankings method certainly is attractive. It's almost like opening up the sports page on Sunday to see the new Associated Press rankings in football -- "Oh, I see Duke moved up a spot ... Cornell's down again." But while trusting college football rankings might cause you to lose a few dollars betting on a game, falling victim to academic rankings can have more serious consequences. These rankings lead more and more students every year to make the mistake of applying to "top" schools that don't fit them personally. In an effort to please Mommy and Daddy, seniors apply to the top schools from the U.S. News survey, without even giving a thought to those schools farther down the list that would make them happier.

To even suggest that there is a "best" university in the country is to rob each school of its personality and individuality, and all the other things that don't make it into charts. Traditions like Club 13 and Beer-Bike are big parts of what makes Rice University unique, but there isn't a ranking in most guidebooks for "Most students willing to leave butt prints on library windows" or for "Most efficient drinkers." To know that Rice, or any other school for that matter, has a personality beyond what the charts indicate requires prospective applicants to look closely into the true nature of each school, often a gruelling endeavor.

What college guidebooks have become, in effect, is a tool for high school seniors too lazy to do their own research.

It is, of course, much easier to believe in a "best" school and to apply based on the numbers in a magazine or guidebook, but that cheats the school and the student. There is much more to a college choice than what shows up on paper, and while a book can definitely show you where to begin, the student who doesn't follow up on guidebook advice will be making a largely uninformed decision.

It certainly wasn't the average SAT scores that convinced me to come to Rice. It wasn't shaving-cream butt prints either, but rather a mix of both.The tables were helpful, but what made the decision for me was the atmosphere of learning and fun that gives Rice its personality -- something that did not make the guidebooks.

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the September 19, 1997 issue.