The admissions process inspires strange behavior among mothers and fathers of applicants. Or as Jennifer Delahunty describes it: “This whole last dance of parenting turns all of us—no matter how smart or experienced—into stumbling idiots.”

That’s a line from I’m Going to College—Not You, a new collection of essays edited by Ms. Delahunty, dean of admissions and financial aid at Kenyon College, in Ohio. The book includes contributions from prominent writers, including Anna Quindlen, Joe Queenan, and Neal Pollack. The latter describes how, just hours after his son’s birth, his mother started talking about how the child would one day attend Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Really, is there anywhere else worth dreaming about?

In all seriousness, the roots of college angst go deep down into the parental psyche, which Ms. Delahunty explores in her introduction: “Acceptance of a son or daughter by ...

Flowers feed bees, and industries feed other industries. Higher education is no exception. Case in point: Colleges support the thriving rankings industry, led by U.S. News & World Report. In turn, this annual ratings ritual supports what one might call the tout industry, which supports colleges by helping them promote their rankings—for a fee.

Colleges have long paid for the right to use the official U.S. News “badge” in print materials. This year, for the first time, colleges must also pay to reproduce the copyrighted image online. The badge includes the magazine’s logo, the phrase “Best Colleges 2011,” and the name of one of 13 categories, such as “Liberal Arts Colleges” or “Up-and-Comers.”

Previously, college officials could download the images for free from the U.S. News Web site. Over the years, some institutions have used the logo online despite receiving relatively low scores in the...

In the realm of college admissions, today is a day to rejoice—or rant. It all depends on your opinion of college rankings (or, perhaps, your college’s place on U.S. News & World Report’s annual list).

Today the magazine unveiled the 2011 edition of Best Colleges. As you may have heard, some university in Massachusetts topped the list of national universities, and a small college in the same state took the top spot on the list of liberal-arts colleges.

Although some things never change, the ranking methodology does. This year, for the first time, U.S. News included the views of high-school counselors in its measure of “academic reputation,” perhaps the most controversial aspect of the rankings. Previously, the magazine used only an annual “peer assessment” survey of college presidents, provosts, and admissions deans to calculate this measure, which accounted for 25 percent of each college’...

For years admissions officers at nonprofit colleges have wrestled with the complexity of their jobs. They are counselors, but also recruiters. They use marketing techniques, but many don’t like to use the “m word.” They may conduct “holistic” reviews of applicants, but their enrollment goals include hard numbers and statistics.

Nonetheless, many have long seen a line—a big, bright one—that distinguishes them from their counterparts at for-profit colleges. On the one side there are “admissions professionals” who advise; on the other side there are salespeople who sell.

On Wednesday, David A. Hawkins elaborated on this distinction during his testimony at a U.S. Senate hearing on marketing and recruitment in for-profit education. Mr. Hawkins is director of public policy and research at the National Association for College Admission Counseling, known as NACAC, which represents some 1,100...