Rank Obsession and Strategies to Combat It | Cambridge Network

“We’re number 1!

We’re number 1!”

Not an uncommon phrase to hear chanted after your team wins a big game. We are obsessed with the idea of being number one in competition. Of course, this is a relatively easily measured assessment. If a team has beaten the majority of other teams, they are able to clearly say they are the best; they are number one. When this starts to spread to other areas that are more difficult to clearly measure, such as education, this conversation gets much more interesting. While it’s true that the US obsession with rankings in education has grown in recent history, the larger issue is the misuse of those comparisons both by the schools themselves, but also from an external source: international students. Let’s explore the obsession with rank and review some strategies for combatting it.

International student over value rankings for a myriad of reasons. One of those reasons is cultural. Let’s look at China. In Imperial China, there were imperial exams. Imperial exams were tests anyone could take to “prove their worth.” Based on your score you could change the social standings of your entire family in one fell swoop. Where you ranked mattered in a big way. If you scored well, you could be rewarded with well-respected jobs in government that would put you and your family in the top tier of society. People would dedicate years to studying for a single test. Once they had passed that test, they would begin studying to get to the next level. The only way to progress was to score higher than everyone around you. With that being a part of society as a whole, it was passed down from generation to generation. Ranking mattered. You can even see remnants of it in today’s public schools in China. Many public schools will be named a number as opposed to a unique name (eg. Beijing #2 Middle School). More often than not, that number corresponded to the strength and resources of that school. This ranking obsession is seen all the way down to day-to-day interactions. It’s really quite commonplace to hear the question asked of which blank is better (eg. insert any skillset, store-bought product, or school). These questions are not about winning and doing something to the best of one’s ability, but rather, the focus was on how one did in comparison to others. Put simply, one doesn’t need to be the best, they just need to be better than the next person.

So we’ve established this fixation on ranking, but what does that mean for us? Well, with all these rankings embedded so deeply, international families often look to the rankings they see to determine what schools to attend. Even when they know there are relative merits to school A over school B, the overall ranking plays a much larger role in determining their choice than it should. Parents often don’t realize that those rankings they see measure the overall performance of that school, without any focus on what their child needs or even wants. Because of this, students will often apply to schools that, according to the ranking, should mean absolute success but often end in students’ losing out on other great, successful paths. A rank of a school in today’s world, more often than not, has little to do with a student’s success post-high school. Families from China to Nigeria, from India to Korea, will often choose schools based predominantly on their number rank, thinking it will magically transform their student.

So how do you, as a school, beat this? What can you do if you aren’t a part of the “Top 50 Elite?” We have a few suggestions that you should consider:

1. Show up: One of the ways schools have garnered international recognition was literally allowing themselves to be recognized. A presence in China in the form of faculty members doing research or attending recruitment fairs where actual members of your school are present and focused on, goes a long way to students putting you on their radar.
2. Trust your students: Your current international students can have a stronger impact locally in their home areas than the vast majority of marketing. If they are having a good time at your school, they are speaking to friends, family, and anyone else who will listen about it. Encourage them to do that more often.
3. College Counseling: If your school doesn’t have a dedicated counselor for your international students, who can focus on highlighting their experience and finding the right schools for them, you might want to look into that. This can even be one of your existing counselors who takes on the responsibility of learning more about international students and their possibilities. Focus on what your school can do for your students domestic and international students by highlighting success stories of students going on to do great things at the college level. Advertise that.
4. Mentoring programs: Really this is less of a mentoring program and more of a pair-up type of program. The idea would be to fully and quickly integrate international students into the domestic student body. Students and parents want their son or daughter to have an authentic experience. If that is part of what they see, pure numbers for rank will matter less.
5. Specific marketing: Similar to #3, if your international students have successes, feature them in student-based marketing. Success stories are huge. Your average Chinese family sending their son or daughter to the US expects them to be in the top 10% of their class so they will identify more with a unique story of success. Where #3 focuses on what those students go on to do, this tip focusses on the time they spend actually at your school.
6. Hyper-focus: The ranking focuses on the whole school. If you can hyper-focus on the experiences that students can build on and attach them to specific outcomes, you control the narrative. Highlight your school’s strengths and connect them to strong outcomes, for example, small classes = more teacher connections; more rural location = more diverse when it comes to college admissions and so on. NYU is more likely to look for a straight A international student who studied in Kansas City as opposed to Jersey City. Makes for a more compelling student backstory.
7. Show your knowledge: Make an opportunity to be seen as an expert in helping students achieve their dreams. Participating in in-person or online Q&A sessions about your school in particular or about the application process in general both to students and their families. If it’s interactive be sure to involve a translator.
8. Tell a friend to tell a friend: By friend, I mean local agents. Hold informational sessions with agents. Agents have the ear of the family, so making them as informed as they can be about what you can offer, will make their conversations with potential students inspire more confidence. Find out the kinds of questions they are getting from families, and help arm them with great answers to help you find the type of students you want.
9. Merchandise: Find a way to get your merchandise out into the markets you are looking into. You can offer them to agents to give away, you can clad your international students in school wares to show off when they go home.

If you start with these tips, you’ll be well on your way to re-shaping the narrative on your school for international students. You make it less about the numbers and more about the experience. Working with organizations like the Cambridge Network, can help you put together an entire plan of international marketing that fits your school. You can’t assume that what you see about your school is what everyone can see, especially if they live a world away, so give them something more to look at besides just a simple number.