An Innovative Scheme for College Ranking: A Socialization Perspective

Using the U.S. News college rankings as an example, this scheme highlighted the concerns and obstacles existing commercial college ranking lists confront, including data fabrication and data credibility. As we have anchored contemporary thought in education, the college rankings nowadays are irrational and contrary to the spirit of education. Instead, we utilized socialization as a valid objective of education and examined how the socialization of students is a core ranking indicator congruent with education’s raison d’être. Therefore, we proposed a new Bayesian statistical ranking method based on colleges’ impact on students’ socialization. This new approach to college ranking provides a more accurate and fair representation of the quality of institutions and is more in line with the true purpose of education. This paper aims to contribute to the ongoing conversation about the importance of socialization in education and the need for a more equitable and meaningful way of evaluating educational institutions.