University ranking is a strange beast. On one hand, it may merely indicate the amount of endowment a university receives from its alumni per capita. On the othe

University ranking is a strange beast. On one hand, it may merely indicate the amount of endowment a university receives from its alumni per capita. On the other, it may truly rank a school by the merits of its research. But more often than not, I find that university ranking is mostly to measure how endowed a university is, no pun intended. If a university--particularly a well-established research university--were so good, why couldn't it turn a mediocre student into a star student? (Went to Arizona State; not exactly high on the US rankings)