“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Columbia University, the Ivy League school that ranked #2 in the 2022 US News & World Report college ranking until one of its own mathematics professors, Michael Thaddeus, brought to light that the university misreported data to the publication, leading to a steep fall to #18 in the 2023 US News ranking, subsequently dropped out of the 2024 rankings. 

However, as anyone who has taken a look at the US News rankings recently could tell you, Columbia’s decision to drop out of the rankings is about as meaningful as its commitment to need-blind, test-optional admissions, which is to say totally meaningless. Columbia is very much still part of the rankings, as are all the other elite universities that have opted out of sharing data with US News.

Columbia Became the First Major University to Drop Out of US News Ranking

With the move, Columbia became the first major university to spurn the all-important rankings by refusing to submit data. It’s a not-so-stunning turn of events in light of the scandal’s cloud that has hung over the university this past year and the retribution the school faced by the publication for supplying them with incorrect data.

As Stephanie Saul and Anemona Hartocollis report for The New York Times in a piece about Columbia’s exit from the US News rankings:

Columbia said it had become concerned about the ’outsized influence’ the rankings played in the undergraduate admissions process. ’Much is lost in this approach,’ the university said in an announcement signed by officials including Mary C. Boyce, Columbia’s provost.

Columbia Faced Retribution from US News for Misreporting Data

Of course, Columbia didn’t seem overly concerned with the “outsized influence” the US News rankings enjoy in American higher education when the school ranked #2. How the mighty have fallen, and now have sour grapes!

But did this decision have any impact whatsoever on Columbia’s presence in the rankings? Of course not! Currently, the Manhattan-based Ivy League school ranks 15th on the list, a far cry from its artificial-high heyday, when it ranked #2. As it turns out, US News has a robust process to handle schools like Columbia that decline to submit data directly to the publication: 

There is no explicit penalty for schools that do not submit a U.S. News statistical survey. Within any given ranking category, the same formula is applied to all eligible schools, regardless of their participation status.

However, non-participating schools are ranked using publicly available data, which is often a year older. This federal government data can be less relevant to bachelor’s students, as its definitions for a few metrics – including which faculty are most likely to be in contact with students and the test scores of entering undergraduates – are not as refined as the data U.S. News collects directly from schools.

In addition, because U.S. News does not have their full survey responses, these schools will have a less detailed profile and may appear lower in search visibility. Peer assessment ratings submitted by these schools are also not included in the final calculations.

Columbia Will Still Appear in the US News Rankings Ad Infinitum

And, yes, Columbia will still appear in the US News rankings for years to come because US News, in a defensive posture to the announcements that numerous elite law and medical schools would no longer report data to US News, no longer relies on information provided by the universities. After all, where would US News be without its rankings?

So while longtime critics of the methodology and influence of the US News rankings, like Malcolm Gladwell, who recently released a terrific podcast on Columbia’s rankings scandal, are likely licking their lips that the school’s departure from US News could spell trouble for the publication, we suspect it will be more akin to a tree falling in a forest.

Other Elite Universities Will Likely Continue to Drop Out of Rankings, But It Won’t Matter

At present, nearly all top-ranked law schools, including Harvard Law and Yale Law, refuse to share their data with US News. The same goes for most top medical schools, as well as a small but mighty cohort of undergraduate colleges led by Columbia.

As time goes on and the tides of college admissions offices slowly but surely turn against superficial college rankings, other elite universities will likely join Columbia in dropping out of the US News rankings. But the schools will still be ranked. The rankings will still be valued. And the college admissions process, primarily shaped by the outsized influence of the US News rankings, will continue as though nothing has changed.