Pretty much any single ranking is going to be fairly meaningless for a prospective student, given the large differences between various faculties at most univer

Pretty much any single ranking is going to be fairly meaningless for a prospective student, given the large differences between various faculties at most universities, except at a very coarse level (e.g. universities near the top are probably a good bet generally, and those near the bottom are to be considered with caution). However that doesn't really add anything that isn't already pretty obvious to most people. At best I suppose you could think of it as a kind of pat on the back for universities which do a good job generally. Give them a bit of kudos and publicity etc. That doesn't really do that much for the top-tier schools, but it might give some under-appreciated schools welcome attention.