Understand top university rankings to shortlist the best colleges

If you are clear about studying abroad and know the benefits of the same, the next major decision is to decide what college to apply to. How does one define “best colleges”? What is the judging parameter? The most common answer to this question would be that these colleges have been branded as the best by rankings. It is important to remember that there exists more than one ranking. As a matter of fact, there are many rankings made available by companies that publish rankings for universities across the world.

Some of these rankings are specific to one country, while others are global rankings. As with surveys, every ranking is set on certain parameters. Every one of those parameters is given different weight by the listing company before calculating the ranks. That is why when we look at the different listing, the ranks of a particular college will be different. Some of the popular college rankings for study abroad are QS, Times Higher Education, The Economist and Forbes for only US colleges.

When a student is comparing these rankings, it is essential to know what factors are important yourself. Many shortlist colleges based on these rankings, so you need to ask yourself first - do the ranking give weightage to the factors that are important to me? To find the best-fit college for yourself you need to measure how the colleges stand up to the parameters important to you.

This goes without saying that instead of looking at the overall ranking, you should focus on the course specific rankings. More than the name of the college, your choice, of course, should matter. In the long run, what will matter is how good your course was taught to you, not how prestigious your college was.

Your selection criteria should cost of the course, scholarships available, the location of the college, student-teacher ratio, class size, number of Indians around the area, accommodations available etc.

While looking through these lists, it is possible that you may come across names of colleges or universities that you have never heard of. Don’t cut these off your list because they might be well-known for a few particular courses or are popular regionally. If you are aiming at well-known colleges then you have to match the profile of a ‘best fit student’ that every college has. It means you should match the expectations of the college as well. all the top colleges take in students who have multi-dimensional growth, like high GMAT scores, good GPA, volunteering experience, work experience etc. if you can match up to the high expectations of the college, only then apply there. Otherwise, there is no harm in keeping your expectations realistic and aim for colleges more likely to accept you.