When was the last time you chose the thirteenth best option? According to Forbes magazine, it was the day you

decided to enroll at Oakland University.

That’s right, last month’s study by the prominent business magazine ranked OU as the thirteenth best university in the state of Michigan. Oakland checked in at No. 571 in the nation overall.

If your initial reaction was the same as ours — to count the number of Michigan colleges you willingly accept as better

options — then you’re probably still scratching your head at the ranking. Clearly there must have been some sort of computing error or oversight.

Having taken a look at the methodology behind the rankings, it can be safely deduced that the true error lies in the ridiculous formula that was used.

The most laughable part of the study is also the factor that counted the most. Student evaluations from RateMyProfessors.com check in with a 17.5 percent share in each ranking.

In the explanation of the study’s methodology, Forbes offers a longwinded  defense — 1,408 words long — as to why the popular website is a credible determinant, but we’re hesitant to let RateMyProfessors.com help us determine which classes to take, let alone which college to attend.

Another sizable chunk — 10 percent — of the formula draws from a list of people deemed important enough to be on a “Who’s Who in America” list and considers how many of these “notable” people attended each university.

While this may be an interesting footnote, and a semi-effective ploy to recruit prospective students, the problem is that two or three graduates don’t accurately depict the whole of a student body.

Additionally, the study neglects to consider a multitude of factors that are among the most significant parts of a student’s

decision process. There is no attention given to things like campus living, buildings and facilities, technological offerings, location and a litany of other considerations students weigh when determing where they’ll spend four or more of their most formative years.

The study also tended to skew heavily toward very small colleges. Fifteen of the top 25 colleges on the overall list have student populations below 5,000. Just four of the nation’s 25 largest schools managed to crack the top 100 in the overall rankings.

In case you were wondering, the top

in-state college according to Forbes was Kalamazoo College (with just 1,389 reported students), followed by the University of Michigan. Michigan State University ranked seventh.

The biggest problem with Forbes’ study is that it masquerades as a legitimate barometer of a college’s standing. It’s unlikely that the average person who sees these rankings will look at the methodology that went into its creation.

To give credence to this study is to accept that face value and a purely mathematical approach are all that really matter in determining the quality of a university.

All in all, studies like this rely too heavily on subjective analysis while conveniently dismissing a host of significant variables that can’t be represented in the types of formulas and equations that were employed.

Oakland may not be able to make a compelling case to be ranked alongside esteemed, long-established schools like Michigan and Michigan State, but the perceived value of an OU education should not be subject to the interpretation of flawed judgments like the one Forbes has presented.