The national magazines love to publish college rankings, but alumni don't take these annual beauty pageants too seriously. At least that's the impression we got from interviewing 50 graduates for our latest poll.
That conclusion may bring some solace to President Gerhard Casper, who has clashed with U.S. News & World Report over the accuracy and legitimacy of the magazine's college rankings. In April, the University created its own website to publish Stanford statistics and urged U.S. News to "eliminate its attempt to rank colleges and universities like automobiles or toasters."
Almost 80 percent of the alumni we surveyed said a hypothetical drop in Stanford's ranking would have no effect on the value of their degrees. "I know what I learned, and that's what's important," said a publication manager, '61, summing up the majority opinion. "What other people think doesn't affect my education." A lawyer in Denver, '49, argued that the University's standing continues to improve, despite the year-by-year vagaries of magazine rankings. "Stanford's reputation has been like the Dow Jones average--it just keeps going up," he said. A med school professor, PhD '78, MD '81, said his degree wouldn't be worth any less if the medical school were to slide in the rankings, but he admitted, "I love to see how Stanford is doing."
Some alumni--22 percent of our sample--said a drop in the rankings would slightly tarnish their degrees. "Let's be honest," said a travel exec, '59, "people's perceptions are influenced by these silly things." And that influence can be malevolent, said a homemaker, '93, whose husband just finished business school here. "If you'd just graduated and the ranking dropped significantly, that could be a cloud hanging over an interview."
Next Issue: Reunion Angst
