2008 National Survey of Student Engagement

"Findings from a national survey released this week show that the quality of
undergraduate education varies far more within colleges and universities than between
them. As a result, rankings can be highly misleading predictors of educational quality.
Analyses of key “Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice” reveal that in almost
every case, more than 90 percent of the variation in undergraduate education quality
occurs within institutions, not between them. A related conclusion is that even
institutions with high benchmark scores have an appreciable share of students whose
undergraduate experience is average at best."
Actual Survey Results Site