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If you’re a high school junior or senior, you might be wondering how much of a difference going to a top ranked college really makes. Should you put in the extra time and effort to maintain a higher GPA so you’ll be able to get into an elite school, or can you afford to back off a bit and enjoy what’s supposed to be the best years of your life? After all, as long as you get a degree from somewhere, you’ll be set. Right?

Later on, of course, they do come to realize that the school, or rather college, also makes a difference! This is when they are job-hunting. Ask any prospective employers whom would they choose, and a majority of them will answer that they would like to go for those who have graduated from top class schools and colleges. Lesser known colleges or even unknown colleges come second on their lists. These graduates are also given higher salaries over their counterparts. Articles in newspapers may state that if you get an MBA degree, you might make anything up to $100,000 a year. What they forget to mention is that those who do so have to be graduates from the Universities of Pennsylvania or Harvard or Northwestern. Thus, a little pain is definitely worth it, if one wants to gain!

School rankings are calculated differently by different sources, so it’s important to understand how the rankings were determined before accepting them as valid for your purposes. It’s also important to note that the order of the top ranked colleges changes year after year. Sometimes these changes are for significant reasons, such as loss of funding, fewer academic programs, or lack of a distinguished faculty; however, sometimes the changes are for minor reasons that happen to carry weight with a particular ranking system. You should read the source explanations thoroughly in order to understand how the rankings were derived and which factors can change them.

There is a difference between a college or school that is ranked overall to be the topmost and a college/school that is considered the best in a particular discipline of study. We can take the example of Yale University and MIT to illustrate this. Yale may stand out as the topmost college overall, but MIT stands out as the best institute where engineering courses are considered. Then a student wishing to go in for that discipline should definitely opt for MIT instead of Yale. In the case where a student might change course midway, it is better to opt for the college which has topped the list in general rankings.

A national magazine lists out all the schools and colleges in their ranking order. Every year, a whole issue is devoted to this cause. A student can also look at the annual school guides or books or the World Web. The rankings should be the most recent ones.

Yes, diligence is required during the high school years for admission into a high-ranked college. But if one has an eye on a bright future, then the effort will be well worth it.