December 3, 2004

Another Imperfect Way to Rank Colleges

To the Editor:

The revealed-preference ranking system proposed by Christopher Avery et al. is not as fair or transparent as they suggest (Notebook, The Chronicle, October 29). It systematically favors colleges that are more selective or elite.

Students express preferences among colleges at two stages in the admissions process: first by choosing the short list of colleges to which they apply, and second by choosing among the colleges to which they are admitted. The proposed