US News College Rankings are out...now what?

US News College Rankings are out. What do these rankings even mean really?

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges

Best? Best for what?  Best for who?

Parents and kids are all excited about trying to get into a school towards the top of the list, and having goals is nice and all, but I would suggest that a more detailed analysis would be prudent.

Since you have asked for my advice, I will offer it, but much of this is common sense.

• Not everyone should go to college.  First try to find out what college is really like and make sure that you really want to go and are actually ready for it.  Many students end up quite disappointed and with a lot of debt. I've had students who didn't know their times tables in my classes and it was pretty clear that they were not ready for college.  Somebody either lied to them or blew sunshine at them. It was sad.
• If you have found a subject you are really interested in, find a university with a good general reputation, perhaps from the above US News list, and select the schools with a good reputation in your subject area. This will considerably shorten the list.

This next part is not completely common sense but it is crucial:

• From the above refined list,  try to get real intelligence on the universities reputation for teaching in your subject area! This can vary quite widely. At some schools an undergraduate will have almost no opportunity to be taught by the "rock star" faculty members, let alone do undergraduate research with them, whereas other schools make a better effort in this area. This will likely leave you with a very short list.
• No matter how much you think you know about your chosen subject area, assume that you don't know enough, and find additional opportunities for advanced knowledge and enrichment. College is like everywhere else: the rich get richer! The better prepared students will be given more opportunities to work with faculty than the less well prepared students. This isn't because the faculty are evil and makes sense really: the faculty would rather work with students that can contribute something to their research program.

The previous two points require special emphasis for underrepresented students:

• FIND OUT THE PERCENTAGE OF UNDERREPRESENTED STUDENTS THAT HAVE SUCCEEDED IN YOUR CHOSEN DEPARTMENT AT YOUR CHOSEN UNIVERSITY. This information is difficult to determine, but I would say it is essential: why would you roll the dice when the costs are so high?
• No matter how good you are, just remember you are dealing with people and, unfortunately, most people tend to like people that look and sound like the other people they are already used to.  In other words, underrepresented students will very likely be at a social disadvantage in elite academic settings and the best way to compensate for this is by knowing your stuff.  Fair warning: if you don't put up with any abuse, it is very likely that you will be disliked. There is a weird double standard at play where the underrepresented are somehow just expected to suck it up.

Perhaps I have painted too grim a picture.  The good news is that undergraduate school is a bit nicer than graduate school, but don't kid yourself: despite all of the diversity rhetoric, underrepresented undergraduate students get insulted all the time by faculty, and even their peers, and I have seen it crush them and cause them to leave mathematics.