With a name like that, it should hardly be surprising that it is thin on facts, like their philosophy rankings, according to which Boston College is #1.  But part of the scheme is then trying to get schools to promote the fake recognition (I assume somewhere along the line a fee kicks in), as in this e-mail sent to a philosophy professor at UNC-Chapel Hill:

I wanted to follow up with you to make sure you saw my previous email about the high rankings UNC Chapel Hill has achieved in Philosophy.

I’m Bill Phelan, CEO & Co-Founder of College Factual. We’ve created a press release detailing your ranking news, which you can read here: https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill/news/top-college-2018-top-ranked-philosophy/

This article was created to highlight the unique strengths of your institution. You should feel free to pass the information around to people inside and outside your organization. You can even add a unique quote to the article by clicking the link within the press release that says, Learn how to contribute to this article.

Want to download a badge to go with the ranking? You can do that here: http://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill/rankings/badges/admin/ Sincerely,

Bill Phelan Co-Founder & CEO, College Factual m: +1-518-369-4902 e: w.p.phelan@collegefactual.com | w: http://www.collegefactual.com bh_bill.phelan cf_bill_phelan Find your best-fit college and major today!

Alas, Mr. Phelan is apparently too ignorant to realize that ranking Chapel Hill the second-best philosophy program in North Carolina and the 34th-best in the country (on a list with Boston College at #1) is an insult, not a badge of honor.  In any case, caveat emptor about this nonsencial ranking attempting to capitalize on those in search of real guidance.