Last year, I spent the entire summer visiting colleges - including all eleven NESCAC schools.
I also marshaled a tremendous amount of data to analyze these schools from a variety of perspectives, most notably: (1) selectivity/reputation, (2) quality of education, (3) quality of life.
Viewed holistically, here are my rankings:
- Williams
- Middlebury
- Amherst
- Bowdoin
- Tufts
- Colby
- Hamilton
- Wesleyan
- Bates
- Trinity
- Connecticut
Observations:
1.) Princeton Review does an excellent job ranking colleges on “quality of education.” The only schools in the country with [99] ratings are Williams, Middlebury, and West Point.
2.) If you had never seen college rankings, visited all the schools, and were asked which school was ranked #1…you would probably answer Middlebury. However, since Williams is perpetually ranked #1 and has a significantly larger endowment, it has some distinct competitive advantages.
3.) Bowdoin is an amazing place…but the campus is tiny. Extremely tiny. This is somewhat offset by its very nice college town (Brunswick).
4.) Tufts isn’t really a NESCAC and should probably be compared with other research universities.
5.) If you’re an athlete, bump Colby up a spot. They just built an absolutely ridiculous athletic facility.
6.) Rankings are sticky. It’s fascinating to see how they evolve over time, and very difficult to make predictions. Here’s an example. Connecticut is almost always placed in the lowest tier of NESCAC schools, which makes sense. But…let’s compare it with Bates. Connecticut has a nicer campus, a much better campus site (sandwiched between a massive arboretum and a major river in sight of Long Island Sound halfway between NYC and Boston), and a very similar sized endowment. It’s located 10 minutes from Mystic, which beats Lewiston hands down. My prediction is that Conn eventually overtakes Bates/Trinity due to these structural advantages.
7.) It’s notable that Williams/Amherst saw applications fall meaningfully in 2023 while applications increased at Middlebury/Bowdoin. Based on my college visits and analytical ‘deep dives’, I think Amherst might eventually lose its seemingly permanent #2 ranking to these NESCAC rivals.