AIR Conference: Rankings and college-bound students

The annual Association for Institutional Research Conference kicked off in Long Beach California last week, with institutional researchers descending into the city to listen to topics ranging from domestic rankings, retention rates, and yield.

As always the opening reception was themed, this year’s tropical theme was accompanied by steel drums, shell leis, and hyacinths. Although curiously, churros and performers on stilts were also part of the reception festivities, lending a surreal atmosphere to a room full of vendors.

This year highlights include a session on ‘Have the U.S. News Rankings Influenced the Choices of College-Bound Students?’

Speaker David Davis-Van Atta from Vassar College looked at the correlation between the year-on-year ranking of the top 25 liberal arts colleges against student application rates to see if a college went up in the rankings whether their application levels would also rise. Davis-Van Atta found that there was no correlation between the two however some observers during the Q&A session questioned his methodology including whether he should have looked at colleges beyond the top 25. Although the methodology used for the study might be limited, the analysis can lend to a healthy discussion on how students utilised rankings of universities, and whether institutions themselves give them more heed.

Meanwhile in the official U.S News session the following day featuring Bob Morse, it was standing-room.