Should I trust school rankings when choosing a school?

Trust them like you trust a GPS: helpful, but not infallible. Rankings are a starting point, not a final verdict. They’re like someone giving you restaurant recs without knowing your dietary restrictions, budget, or whether your kid’s allergic to peanuts and pretension. Use rankings to get a lay of the land—but then dig deeper. Visit schools, ask questions, talk to other parents, and most importantly: listen to your child. If a school feels right but isn’t top-ranked, trust that. The goal isn’t to raise a ranking-chaser—it’s to raise a curious, confident human. So yes, glance at the numbers. But choose with your eyes open, heart engaged, and helicopter-parent mode set to “chill.”