I was bitching about college rankings about a month ago, and although I do enjoy a good vent, I wish Sam Jackson had told me that soon my pleas would be answered. I understand that the lid had to be kept on the Unigo.com thing, so I’m willing to forgive him.

Because Mr. Jackson and the NY Times Magazine both do such a thorough job of explaining it all, I won’t go into great depth about Unigo.com. I will say that it’s a tremendous undertaking and that the founder, Jordan Goldman, should be commended for utilizing his powers for good.

I say again that annually published college rankings are crap, and have more basis in politics than in fact. This renders them useless for any real research on the part of college student hopefuls and their parents. Finding a college or university that’s the perfect fit is difficult, especially when faced with thousands of possibilities and a finite (or nonexistent) amount of funds available for campus visits.

Unigo.com is a huge step in the right direction toward collecting valuable information about particular colleges and universities and what type of experience a given student might realistically expect to find there. Knowing that this resource is available makes me incredibly happy and has helped to restore my faith in my fellow man.

Posted by Alexa Harrington