Corrupted by the ListHow a quest for prestige harms the students it should serve.

From the show

When Rewards Backfire

The U.S. News & World Report rankings were meant to clarify academic quality for students. Instead, they created a high-stakes game where the prize was a number, not educational excellence. To climb the list, prestigious universities began manipulating data—misreporting test scores, rejecting qualified applicants to seem more selective, and spending inefficiently. This reveals how a well-intentioned metric can incentivize cheating and distort an institution's fundamental mission.