How Does Niche Rank Schools?

I'm curious about how Niche ranks schools. I've seen their lists and I wonder what criteria they use. Are their rankings reliable when choosing a college? Any insight would be super appreciated.

Niche is a platform that uses a combination of statistical data and user reviews to rank schools and colleges. They factor in a variety of components to determine their rankings, such as academics, culture and diversity, professors, student life, safety, and location.

The academics grade is primarily based on average SAT/ACT scores, quality of colleges that students consider, student-teacher ratio, private school ratings, and more. Additionally, user surveys on academics are taken into account. For the professors grade, it's mainly based on student surveys about the quality of professors at the school. Test scores, popular colleges, and student-teacher ratio all factor into the grade given for college prep.

For the campus grade, things like student surveys on the campus, safety, area around campus, as well as campus food and housing are considered. And when it comes to the student life grade, Niche looks at the number of students participating in extracurricular activities, the diversity of those activities, as well as student opinions on the overall experience.

However, while Niche rankings can provide a useful starting point, they should not replace first-hand perspectives or a close examination of aspects that are important to you personally. Keep in mind that rankings can often be influenced by a small number of disproportionately negative or positive reviews.

When choosing a college, it's important to consider many aspects, including the academic programs, campus culture, location, financial aid opportunities, extracurricular activities, and other individual factors that are important to you. Such aspects might not be fully captured in ranking systems. Consider visiting the campus, talking with current students or alumni, attending virtual college tours, and researching about the college on multiple platforms to get a more comprehensive view about the college.