College Ranking Methodology.
How CollegeDarbar ranking pages document sources, weighting, review and commercial separation.
2 min read
4 sections
01Default evaluation framework
- Academic standing and accreditation: 25%
- Published student outcomes and placements: 25%
- Fees and return-on-investment considerations: 20%
- Admissions and selectivity: 10%
- Infrastructure and student support: 10%
- Research, compliance and institutional transparency: 10%
02Page-level disclosure
- A ranking page should record the data-collection date, sources used, factor weights and reviewer.
- If data coverage requires a different weighting, that deviation must be explained on the page.
03Missing and incomparable data
- Missing institutional data is not replaced with a default value.
- Where institutions publish metrics using different definitions, the limitation should be disclosed instead of forcing a false comparison.
04Sponsored colleges
- Payment or a commercial relationship does not increase an institution's editorial ranking.
- Sponsored visibility must be labelled and kept separate from the ranking calculation.
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