What can universities do to get higher rankings in prominent publications?

Question

Pominent publications including the US News World Report and BusinessWeek magazine.

And what can students do to help a school implement those changes?

Answer 1

There are a lot of things they can do, but it depends on the focus of the ranking system. If recruiter impressions play a bigger role, they can treat recruiters better, prepare their students more for interviews, expand the size of their placement offices. If it is alumni, they can develop closer ties to alumni (not to mention that larger schools tend to do better on these things). If the problem is selectivity, they can reduce the size of their entering classes to be more selective. The problem is that almost all of these things take money. What students can do is to recognize that every school is trying to be ranked more highly, and it is not easy to make significant moves. They can take seriously things like exit exams or any questionnaires they may be sent. They can spread positive comments about their school. Too often, in an effort to seem "cool", students can blast their schools, especially publicly. They often see this as a way of shaming the school into doing something they want done. The problem is that many people hear or see this, and that becomes their lasting impression of the school. Also, when students are hanging out with others, calling their school a "joke" and exaggerating some of the negatives of the school can have a really negative long-term effect, which can come back to bite them.