While the rankings are read by only a small segment of the college-bound populations we surveyed, those who do read are far more likely to read the US News rankings than any other.

Twenty-six percent of the 100 students who said they read the rankings in college decision-making, indicated that US News was the single most important source of information.

To put things in perspective about the overall impact of rankings, out of the 500 students surveyed, only 26 students cited US News as the single most important source of rankings they read to make judgments about where they should enroll.