The only ranking system that ever seems to matter is the generally assumed ranking within the public consciousness. It doesn't matter if John Doe University emerges from out of nowhere one year to unseat Harvard on some arbitrary list; the general public is still going to assume Harvard is a top school, and probably will not have heard of John Doe U.
As for the distinctions among the generally assumed top tier -- be it Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, or what have you -- these seem pretty irrelevant in praxis. Go to the school that interests you the most and is the best fit for you. If you should be so talented and lucky as to get into all of the best schools, you're probably the kind of person whose life isn't going to take a dramatic turn for the worse because some ranking system suddenly places your alma mater at #2 or #3.
The only two groups who place serious stock in the rankings are high schoolers and the chronically insecure.
As for the distinctions among the generally assumed top tier -- be it Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, or what have you -- these seem pretty irrelevant in praxis. Go to the school that interests you the most and is the best fit for you. If you should be so talented and lucky as to get into all of the best schools, you're probably the kind of person whose life isn't going to take a dramatic turn for the worse because some ranking system suddenly places your alma mater at #2 or #3.
The only two groups who place serious stock in the rankings are high schoolers and the chronically insecure.