Monday Morning Essay Tip: Rankings are Taboo
April 28th, 2008 | Posted in Monday Morning Essay Tips, Blogroll
While candidates should thoroughly explain their interests in specific schools by developing arguments that center around academic and environmental attributes (research institutes, professors, experiential learning opportunities, classes, pedagogies and more), candidates should definitely not identify rankings as a reason for applying. Prospective students, administrations and alumni all pay tremendous heed to rankings, but in an application essay (and in interviews) the issue is entirely taboo.
Why? Rankings are a measure of a school’s reputation and tend to fluctuate from year to year. By citing rankings, you are indicating that you could grow quite dissatisfied by a drop in prestige that is out of the school’s control — a drop which, from the school’s perspective, could put your relationship, as a future student and alumnus, at risk. Further, schools want to make sure that you are attracted to their various academic offerings and that you have profound professional needs that they can satisfy. Rankings are superficial and undermine the profundity of your research and motives.
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