Universities want to score too

11 schools are boycotting Maclean’s university ranking guide. It’s a surprise, considering the annual Maclean’s university issue is generally considered THE bible for Canadian parents eager to transform their naive offspring to formidable lawyers and doctors.

What’s more surprising is the schools who are doing the boycott. I had actually expected a sour grapes situation, but there’s some perennial high-scorers on that list. UofT, UBC, UQAM, and my own Mac is on the list, and they typically are at the top of their rankings and enjoy overall good mindshare. It’s telling when your winners claim your contest is inaccurate.

Speaking of which, I have a story of my own brush with Maclean’s. They determine what the best clubs on campus were by sending out a random survey to a few select club organizers. I know this because in our university one organizer received TWO ballots by accident because Maclean’s thought he ran two clubs. Why? His club had an ampersand in its title.

Obviously he nominated his own club and one I was also participating in, and that’s what got published in the in-depth profile for our school. Scientific, eh?

I probably should have said something back then, but I was a lot more cynical and a lot less introspective at the time.

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