If university rankings disappeared tomorrow, would you still choose the same university?

https://preview.redd.it/zkbbi1hxugnh1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=5c24f2418ec15d9706d545f74deb2e1546e02388

I don't think rankings are useless.

But I do think students sometimes ask them to answer a question they were never designed to answer.

QS's current overall methodology includes research, academic reputation, citations, employer reputation, employment outcomes, faculty/student ratio, internationalisation and sustainability.

Useful institutional indicators.

But they still don't tell an individual student:

Is this the right curriculum?

Are the relevant employers nearby?

What is my net cost?

How strong is this course specifically?

Where do graduates of this programme actually work?

So one exercise I would suggest before paying a deposit:

Remove the ranking number.

Then defend the university using only:

Course
Employers
Location
Cost
Graduate outcomes

If you can still make a strong case, great.

If the entire argument was “Top 100”, perhaps the shortlist needs another look.