《2009版US News美国大学综合排名》是学生和家长比较和选择学校时的极好起点，因为它设定了多种标准来全面衡量美国大学的教学水平。但是学生在选校时也应该考虑其他一些不能被这些标准衡量的因素，包括学习费用、奖学金额度、提供的课程、校园生活、周边环境和地理位置等。通过US News排名，学生和家长可能会发现一些更心仪的院校，这些学校也许他们之前从未考虑、甚至从未听说过。学生可能会同时了解上百所院校，但缩小选择范围并确定最终要就读的学校是一件难事。

那么学生该如何使用US News排名呢？学生在参考排名的同时，也应研究排名以外的其他数据。US News排名里包含了丰富的院校信息，可以帮助学生在最短时间内缩小择校范围。（此为威久留学专家重点点评）

例如，以下数据可以折射的实际情况：

Ø 高中生搜索大学以往录取学生的SAT成绩――推断自己是否有机会被录取，甚至知道自己是否属于优等申请人范畴并获得优等生奖学金；

Ø学校每个班级学生人数――判断自己有多大机会可以在大学课堂上得到教师的关注；

Ø 师生人数比――在不同的学院自己可以得到教授重视的机会有多大；

Ø 新生保留率――学校在帮助新生适应大学学习生活这一方面做出的努力有多大。

学生还可以通过其他数据，知道公立大学之间的差别所在，对某些专门院校进行比较，知道大学校园的多样化程度，或知道性价比最高的院校有哪些。通过US NEWS排名学生也可以查询到美国1800所四年制大学的地理位置、校园大小、花费水平、提供的课程、和奖学金政策等。

英文原版：

How to Use the Rankings Wisely

The 2009 edition of the U.S. News rankings of colleges and universities provides an excellent starting point for families comparing colleges because it offers an opportunity to judge the relative quality of the educational experience at schools according to widely accepted indicators of excellence. But many other factors that can''t be measured should figure in your decision, including the school''s cost, the availability of financial aid, course offerings, the feel of campus life, and the setting and geographic location.

So how should you use our ranking tables? Study the data that accompany the actual rankings. The tables are a source of useful information about colleges that is otherwise hard to obtain and will help you narrow your search to a small number of colleges that are a good fit.

For instance, high school students can scan our column of colleges'' student SAT scores to infer whether they could gain admission to a college―and even rise to the top of the applicant pool and possibly qualify for a merit-based scholarship. They can use our class-size data lists to get a sense of the intimacy of colleges'' classroom experiences. They can check faculty-student ratios to see how much attention they are likely to get from professors at different schools, or check the freshman retention rates to learn how hard schools work to keep students from dropping out. They can study other lists to see how the public schools stack up against one another, to compare specialty schools, or to see how we rate campuses in terms of diversity or best value for the dollar. And look up any of 1,800 four-year schools in our directory to get information on schools'' location, size, cost, academic offerings, and financial aid policies.

While scanning our lists to find colleges that feel right, students and parents may find many names that they had not considered―or even heard of. There are hundreds of fine colleges and universities, and ultimately the challenge is to narrow the list to a few that you''d really like to attend. The articles on this website will give you the names of some of those schools and help you further think about which colleges make the most sense for you. Good luck.

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