I found this article that talks about how schools are dropping out of the US News school rankings system that we all know and love. I personally like to check out the school rankings and see where we are this year, or help shape my opinion of other schools based on some publication's opinion that I otherwise have no use for in the least. I love Columbia University, I will always support my people that have gone through the business school gauntlet. However, it is pretty easy to see that Columbia has enjoyed being at the top of the US News school rankings for far too long based on the user-friendliness of its website. I remember as a virtual student my first term looking at the website and wondering what it would be like once I was there in person for classes. I took the virtual tour and check out the pictures of campus on the website and that was about it. In true Columbia fashion, the website is a labyrinth of random pages that lead to someplace you never wanted to end up. I wonder if Columbia outspent its competition on digital marketing how that would affect its rankings in the US News publication. Regardless, Columbia should be investing seriously in the potential student experience on their website and probably would do well to overhaul most of their crazy systems in place like giving students two email addresses, one of which goes away forever. I digress. The main takeaway here is that digital marketing has the potential to compete with the old ways of doing things like the US News school rankings and allow for a shakeup on top of the leaderboard, if universities and colleges fail to invest in a targeted digital presence.
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