Ranking The Unrankable: A Veterinary Education Series. Part 2: The Cost of Climbing (#590)

How Rankings Distort Institutional Behavior

There is a quiet shift that occurs once rankings take hold.

At first, they are observed.

Then they are discussed.

Eventually, they are pursued.

And somewhere along that path, something subtle but profound changes:

Institutions begin to optimize not for education, but for position.

From Measurement to Strategy

Once a ranking exists, it does not sit passively.

It becomes a target.

Administrators begin to ask:

How do we move up?

What do the top schools do differently?

What signals are we sending to peers?

And with those questions, rankings move from being descriptive to prescriptive.

They begin to shape decisions.

The Hidden Curriculum of Rankings

Every ranking system teaches institutions what matters, even when it doesn’t intend to.

If reputation determines rank, then reputation becomes the goal.

If research output is rewarded, then research becomes the currency.

If visibility matters, then visibility is pursued.

This creates what might be called a hidden curriculum - not for students, but for institutions.

And the lessons are clear:

Be seen.

Be known.

Be talked about.

Because being excellent is no longer enough.

You must also be perceived as excellent.

The Arms Race

Over time, this leads to something familiar.

An arms race.

As one critique of rankings notes, institutions begin to invest heavily in:

Marketing and branding.

Recruitment strategies designed to increase selectivity.

Facilities and visible infrastructure.

Signals of prestige that may have little to do with education.

Not because these improve learning.

But because they improve position.

What Gets Lost

And here is the cost.

Resources are finite.

Time is finite.

Attention is finite.

Every dollar spent on:

Branding.

Reputation management.

Strategic positioning.

is a dollar not spent on:

Teaching.

Mentorship.

Student support.

Clinical training.

This is not an accusation.

It is an inevitable consequence of incentives.

The Distortion of Priorities

Over time, priorities begin to shift. Quietly. Almost invisibly.

The questions change from:

What do our students need?

to:

What will improve our ranking?

And once that shift occurs, even well-intentioned decisions begin to drift.

The Paradox of Prestige

There is a deeper paradox at work.

Rankings are meant to signal excellence.

But in chasing them, institutions may move away from the very qualities that define excellence.

Because:

Mentorship is difficult to measure.

Compassion cannot be quantified.

Clinical judgment does not fit neatly into metrics.

These are slow, human processes.

Rankings reward what is fast, visible, and countable.

The Feedback Loop Tightens

As rankings influence behavior, behavior reinforces rankings.

Schools invest in what is measured.

Measured outcomes improve.

Rankings rise.

The cycle continues.

This creates a system that becomes increasingly self-referential.

Less about education.

More about maintaining position.

Who Pays the Price?

The cost is not borne by institutions alone.

It is borne by:

Students navigating a distorted landscape.

Faculty balancing mission and metrics.

The profession itself, which risks confusing prestige with purpose.

And perhaps most quietly:

Animals and communities - who depend on veterinarians trained not for rankings, but for reality.

A Different Way to Think

What if we resisted the climb?

What if institutions asked:

What would we do if rankings did not exist?

Would we:

Teach differently?

Invest differently?

Measure success differently?

The answers to those questions may be uncomfortable.

But they are also clarifying.

Final Thought

Rankings do not simply measure institutions.

They shape them.

And in doing so, they ask every veterinary school a question:

Will you pursue position, or purpose?

The answer is rarely stated.

But it is always visible.

Coming Next

Part 3:  Global Prestige, Local Irrelevance. When Research Overshadows Reality.

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