This year also the college rankings are out at the expected time i.e. just before the start of college admission process.
It can be seen that college rankings differ from magazine to magazine and year to year for the same magazine for a given college. The reasons are manifold. First, each magazine calculates the parameters (such as students’ quality, faculty strength, infrastructure, job placement, etc.) with its unique formula. Then it mixes the above factual parameters with perception factors (arrived by conducting opinion survey of faculty members across country about other colleges); the ratio of factual to perception differs from magazine to magazine.
However, the main reason for wide differences in results is due to fact that magazines are trying to measure the parameters which cannot be easily quantified and compared. The only parameter which can be accurately calculated is the research output, such as numbers of research papers published, seminars/conferences held & attended, number of patents applied for, international awards received by faculty, etc. This ‘true rankings’ lead to the rush for establishing and declaring research universities in the west in the first part of twentieth century.
Some magazines also resort to the obscure way of handling and generating data. For example, India Today gave weightage to factors such as students care, perception, etc., but there was no mention about these factors in the 6-page questionnaire sent to colleges by the magazine.
However, the effect of college rankings cannot be wished away. It is a useful tool for students, recruiting companies and colleges alike. Students use it to quickly decide about the branch versus institute syndrome, as decision for life is to be made in a few weeks prior the start of admission counseling session. This can be evident from questions raised by students in a new but immensely popular yahoo website-Yahoo! Answers (www.answers.yahoo.com).
The detailed analysis reports on college rankings are bought by hiring corporation from magazine publishers to get background details about colleges from where they plan for campus recruitment drive. The reports help in deciding about which campuses to visit for selection of prospective employees, how many students are to be hired, what salary range to be offered, whether to opt for prime (first day) slot at the opening of campus recruitment season, etc. For example, Schlumberger International (a leading oilfield services provider- http://www.slb.com) recruited engineers in various disciplines for its India operations last year, from several IITs, IT-BHU, ISM Dhanbad and other reputed colleges. Salaries were offered from $75k to $15K per year (Rs. 33 lacs to Rs. 6.5 lacs per year). Barring some exceptions, salaries offered were roughly proportional to the college’s reputation and magazine rankings.
The college rankings can also serve as a useful tool for a college administration to introspect and overcome the deficiencies listed in the magazine reports.
For further reading:
a) Recent news item in CNN News:
Many American colleges balk at U.S. News rankings
Excerpts:
Thacker told CNN that "rankings have reduced students to consumers, education to product, and gaining admission into college a high-priced game that has to be played."
b) A discussion about some of the international college rankings published in Chronicle of Higher Education. The Chronicle (http://chronicle.com) is a highly respected international magazine in the field of higher education. It is published online daily on weekdays and is headquartered in Washington D.C., US.
College Rankings Catch On Overseas
c) 
Go to http://answers.yahoo.com and enter key words such as IT-BHU, IIT-JEE, AIEEE, etc. to view students’ queries about selection of colleges.