Common sense about the PGR

A well-known philosopher elsewhere writes:

I was recently a keynote at a small school’s undergrad conference. I talked with the students about admissions, and asked them what was most important. They all named the gourmet report. And all of them would be hopeless at making their choice any other way (they don’t know how to evaluate vitas and research, their advisors are sometimes equally hopeless). It made me both sad and angry about what happened to the PGR. It’s depressing for me especially because people I am close to are not realizing how elitist and foolish it is to trash the PGR. The existence of the internet is not a substitute for informed rankings.

The internet is not only not a substitute, it makes rankings even more necessary, because it gives a platform for the mediocre to peddle misinformation and self-serving twaddle which just makes the situation of the least informed students worse.   In the real world, I hear again and again from students and faculty how important the PGR has been, which is why Brit has my full support to make sure it can continue.  Only in cyberspace, where the disgruntled gather and group polarization kicks in, does anyone actually profess to think the PGR make things worse.