This past Monday, U.S. News released its mid-year report on the nation’s highest-ranking colleges and universities. These rankings have been long-awaited, with Internet users and top government officials alike placing bets on who will come out on top. But now is no longer the time for speculation. In the newest release of the U.S. News rankings, Barnard College rose to no. 16, while Columbia University sank to a new low at no. 20, marking a historic shift in the Barnard-Columbia dynamic.
Ivy League administrators, including those at Columbia University, have been concerned about these rankings — many top schools have been in the national spotlight due to Congressional hearings and negative media coverage from top news outlets. Columbia has been no exception, but the university’s drop in rank seems far worse than its Ivy competitors, such as Harvard (no. 3), Yale (no. 2), and Princeton (no. 5).
The last time Columbia University faced such a drastic drop in rankings was when Mathematics Professor Dr. Michael Thaddeus’ reported inconsistencies and falsehoods in Columbia’s submitted data. Following this initial exposé, Columbia has continued a pattern of rising and falling among the U.S. News’ top-ranked schools.
To receive more information regarding Columbia’s drop in rankings, we reached out to a US News representative: “We found out they lied about, well, everything.” When asked about Barnard College, they responded, “Barnard lies about everything too, but that’s expected.” When we asked for clarification, the representative continued, “I mean, all girls do is eat hot chips and lie.”
The U.S. staff described their experience while on a Columbia University campus evaluation tour, during which they spotted Barnard President Rosenbury: “We saw her across Broadway, and we really liked her vibe.” Spectador is unsure if this affected Barnard College’s increase in ranking.
