Love ‘em or hate ‘em, school rankings are influencing prospective students’ decisions on where to apply, and architecture firms’ decisions on whom to employ. RECORD looks at this year’s survey and asks people in academia and the profession what it all means.
Every FALL since 1999, DesignIntelligence — the bimonthly journal of the Design Futures Council (DFC), a Washington, D.C.—based think tank whose executive board includes representatives from some of America’s most widely known design firms, schools, and manufacturers — has published rankings of the best architecture schools in the nation. Each year, as the public cracks open the latest black-and-yellow guide, people take to the blogosphere where, sporting handles like “Rationalist” and “Worried Mom,” they share criticism, advice, and pleas for help. Recent comments include: “Betcha those … high school students and grad-school applicants are drooling over this list right now”; “While I don’t put too much stock in these kinds of rankings, I also don’t like to see my school fall down the reputation ladder”; “There are so many schools out there that it’s very hard to even know which ones to look at.”
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