When did colleges become brands? It's time to get over our obsession with ratings, rankings, and buzz.

By Justin Park
Gargoyle senior editor
Posted Thursday, May 4, 2006, The OG, opinions

A recent New York Times article addressed a sentiment Cornell University students now entertain that they are being “underappreciated” and marginalized despite their Ivy League status. In fact, a committee of approximately 50 members was formed to bolster Cornell's prestige in hopes of climbing the college ranking.

I find Cornell's superficial concerns quite foolish and unwarranted. After experiencing the turbulent college process first hand, my views with regard to prestigious colleges has shifted significantly.

I remember as a freshman frantically scanning the college map that counselor Lisa Micele and the PCCs put up on the first floor. The map showed where each senior had decided to go to college. I remember admiring those dropping the H-Bomb (Harvard) but sadly overlooking the rest.

My mother was accompanying me at the time and even said, “Oh look! Noah Isserman got into Amherst!” I was immediately befuddled by her excitement for such a no-name school.

It took but a few years to finally appreciate Noah's success. Once you are immersed in the college process and inundated with literature, rankings, and statistics, you realize how daunting admissions to highly selective schools really are; you realize you are just another fish in a really big sea.

Over time I began to attribute the same weight to all Ivy League schools and small but highly selective liberal arts colleges, despite the minor discrepancies in their seemingly arbitrary rankings, because I know how hard it is to get into any of them (whether it's Harvard or Amherst). Cornell is extremely hard to get into, so naturally I regard it with the utmost respect.

All players of the college game across the nation recognize Cornell as a top institution, so Cornell students and alums shouldn't be concerned with the contrived beliefs of others. People who need to know what Cornell is will know.