2013 USNews Liberal Arts Rankings

College Search & Selection
1

<p>1- Williams
2- Amherst
3- Swarthmore
4- Middlebury
4- Pomona
6- Bowdoin
6- Wellesley
8- Carleton
9- Haverford
10- Claremont McKenna
10- Vassar
12- Davidson
12- Harvey Mudd
14- US Naval Academy
14- Washington and Lee
16- Hamilton
17- Wesleyan
18- Colby
18- Colgate
18- Smith
18- Westpoint
22- Bates
22- Grinnell
24- Macalester
24- Scripps
26- Bryn Mawr
26- Oberlin
28- Bernard
28- Colorado
28- Richmond</p>

<p>Vassar and Harvey Mudd seem to have seen sizable increases in ranking.</p>

2

<p>Wasn’t Vassar at 10 last year?</p>

3

<p>Was it? I remember it being 14 but maybe I am thinking of another year.</p>

4

<p>Vassar #14 last year, 2012 LAC ranking</p>

5

<p>Wesleyan fell by 5 and Scripps rose by 5. These two seem like the most dramatic changes among the top 30, after Harvey Mudd which rose by 6. </p>

<p>Pomona seems a bit underrated. Comparing it with Middlebury, all of the unlocked stats are statistically better, yet it’s tied.
Counselor: 4.5 vs 4.4
Retention: 98% vs 96%
6 Year Grad: 95% vs 90%
Classes: Pomona has more small ones
Student:Faculty- 8 vs 9
Acceptance: 14 vs 18.3</p>

<p>Perhaps it’s the other locked stats that might explain the difference.</p>

6

<p>if this list is true, ranking change from last year</p>

<p>1- Williams 0
2- Amherst 0
3- Swarthmore 0
4- Middlebury +1
4- Pomona 0
6- Bowdoin 0
6- Wellesley 0
8- Carleton -2
9- Haverford +1
10- Claremont McKenna -1
10- Vassar +4
12- Davidson -1
12- Harvey Mudd +6
14- US Naval Academy 0
14- Washington and Lee -2
16- Hamilton +1
17- Wesleyan -5
18- Colby +3
18- Colgate +3
18- Smith +1
18- Westpoint -4
22- Bates -1
22- Grinnell -3
24- Macalester +1
24- Scripps +5
26- Bryn Mawr -1
26- Oberlin -2
28- Barnard +5
28- Colorado -1
28- Richmond -1</p>

7

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<p>perhaps, but I also seem to recall over the last decade that Mr Morse of US News has a history of favoring Middlebury.</p>

8

<p>^^</p>

<p>As in allowing Midd to obfuscate their Winter/Spring admits, but still count all the applications? </p>

<p>The reality is that Morse simply could not care less about that loophole in its methodology that has been and is exploited by Middlebury and Cal, among others. Fwiw, that loophole extends beyond simple admission rates as it also allows for easy manipulating of the “enrolled” students statistics. Especially if one does believe that winter/spring admits were offered a delayed admission for simple reasons such as having lower stats than the students who enrolled in the Fall.</p>

<p>PS As far as favoring certain schools, the USNews has never been secretive about its ways to “level the playing field” by maintaining the power of intangibles that favor the public institutions. But that story has been repeated so often that it is not really worth of stating it again. :)</p>

9

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<p>This might help:</p>

<p>



Pomona  Midd    Criteria
94  94  Score
4.5 4.4 High school counselor score (out of 5)
98% 96% Average freshman retention rate
95% 90% 6-year graduation rate
69.70%  68.20%  Classes with under 20 students
1%  1%  Classes with 50 or more students
8:01    9:01    Student-faculty ratio
14.00%  18.30%  Fall 2011 acceptance rate
4.3 4.3 Peer assessment score (out of 5)
87  87  Undergraduate academic reputation index
1   11  Graduation and retention rank
94% 95% Predicted graduation rate
1   -5  Overperformance(+)/Underperformance(–)
20  17  Faculty resources rank
93.90%  93.50%  Percent of faculty who are full-time
2   6   Student selectivity rank
1370-1550   1290-1480   SAT/ACT 25th-75th percentile
90% 86% Freshmen in top 10 percent of high school class
100%    90% Freshmen in top 25 percent of high school class
6   3   Financial resources rank
20  5   Alumni giving rank
43% 55% Average alumni giving rate

</p>

<p>Or give more reasons to wonder! But then, this makes no difference (if Midd is 4th or 5th) as Pomona is ranked fourth.</p>

10

<p>Other interesting big moves that haven’t been mentioned:</p>

<p>Wooster moved up 8, from 71 to 63. From what I know of the school I expect that move to stick as the quality of the student body is going steadily up. Really becoming strong there. There has always been a commitment to teaching and with this jump I suspect even more strong students will give them a serious look.</p>

<p>Skidmore also moved up 6, from 49 to 43.</p>

<p>Other schools moved down double digits in the rankings:</p>

<p>For example, US News really sh** on Centre this year, with them moving down 10(!) spots from 42 to 52. Centre has engaged in some annoying boosterism on their website in the past, so it will be interesting to see how they handle this ([Centre</a> News: U.S. News ranks Centre College #42 in the nation](<a href=“http://www.centre.edu/news/2011/us_news.html]Centre”>http://www.centre.edu/news/2011/us_news.html)). I guess Joe Biden and Paul Ryan can debate the significance next month…</p>

<p>Reed moved down 18 (!!) spots from 57 to 75, but unlike Centre they don’t seem to care much about this and may actually take pleasure in being s*** on by USNWR. (Reed people are unique!)</p>

<p>Any other big moves people noticed?</p>

11

<p>I feel like finances have a lot to do with the rankings. I feel that the main culprit (at least for Wesleyan) dropping nearly 5 slots is the steadily decrease or stagnant increase in yearly endowment. Wesleyan has been hit pretty hard that they are beginning to do away with need-blind admissions.</p>

12

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<p>The most heavily weighted factor is peer assessment. Middlebury and Pomona have identical peer assessment scores, so the folks who took the survey think they’re equals.</p>

13

<p>Centre is a good LAC in the south, but they are regional. Davidson and Washington & Lee seem to be the only southern LACs that are also popular in northeast (Richmond is also popular if that is considered southern).</p>

14

<p>Centre? Never heard of it. Probably not worth discussing.</p>

15

<p>Yeah but Arcardia, Pomona beat’s Midd on things I would consider good measures of a school:
+Counselor
+Retention
+Graduation
+Class Size
+Student:Faculty
+Student Selectivity
+Acceptance Rate
+Top 10%</p>

<p>They’re almost tied or tied in some other good factors:
+Full Time Faculty
+Peer Assessment</p>

<p>Middlebury does better on some things:
+Alumni giving
+Financial Resources (Important, but Pomona is hurt more by the SoCal location cost of living. It could very well be 1 but the magnitude is not what’s important to USNews)
+Faculty Resources (See above)</p>

<p>Even if you exclude my commentary above Pomona seems to do better overall, with the big difference being alumni giving which…in all respect, is pretty useless.</p>

<p>It’s alright though. Pomona is number 4 after all. No need to complain.</p>

16

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<p>Even Pomona fans must admit that, although Pomona “beats” Middlebury in many of these factors, it doesn’t beat it by much. Pomona benefits greatly from several factors, including its location (less competition from nearby elite LACs), size (Midd has 1,000 more students, impacting nearly all of these factors), and the fact that it shares sports teams with other colleges, thereby requiring fewer athletic tips.</p>

17

<p>Nostalgic brings up a good point. Why exactly is Pomona tied with Middlebury? Even more noticeably, why is it 4, despite performing the best overall in important objective measures of quality?</p>

<p>Arcardia, sure the difference isn’t HUGE, and Middlebury is a very respectable institution, but it is a difference, and it warrants Pomona beating Midd, not tying with it. I don’t deny Pomona benefits from certain things, like being the only LAC of its type in the west coast, but that doesn’t change the objective nature of the rankings. Also, Pomona is quite athletic by itself. Just look at the class of 2015 profile (most recent I could find): <a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/admissions/files/2015-class-profile.pdf[/url]”>http://www.pomona.edu/admissions/files/2015-class-profile.pdf&lt;/a&gt; 64% were varsity athletes, so Pomona does take a pretty huge of [very smart] athletes in. Size? Williams is only 300 students less yet does better than Middlebury on nearly everything, so that’s not a problem. </p>

<p>On a greater note, I find it still funny how Pomona continues to be underranked, despite being:
1- in student selectivity (test scores/admission rate)
1- in graduation rate+ retention rate
1- in endowment per student, which USNews doesn’t even consider but is a meaningful measure of resources available
2- in student to faculty ratio</p>

<p>Oh, the reason? Peer assessment. What an absolute rubbish measure of a school’s quality. Let’s go ask school presidents what (little) they know about schools! I’ll admit, Pomona was once not the school it is today, being selective and endowed but not as much as its peers in the 80s and 90s, but the situation has changed. Presidents and administrators establish a cycle that is difficult to break from- the US News Rankings are almost a self-selecting prophecy ensuring that those with an established assessment always succeed and those who rank worse on it(Pomona) remain underrated. </p>

<p>There are those who may say stats are not everything, and that’s true. For some, Middlebury could be their first and they would never consider Pomona, or vice versa. It’s all about the best fit for you, of course. However, the reality is that these rankings ARE taken quite seriously by prospective students and that the methodology isn’t very apparent on first glance. Some other stupid things:
+Pomona is usually penalized because it’s graduation rate is less than the expected. This year wasn’t the case, because the change was +0 (there seems to be a mistake with Xiggi’s post- I think 95% expected was meant for Pomona). However, its peers have higher graduation rates than expected and get the +1-3 boost, despite the fact Pomona has one of the HIGHEST graduation rates. Magnitude doesn’t matter, performance does.
+The same applies for cost of living. Southern California is expensive. Hence, Pomona does poorly on faculty resources, which are scaled accordingly with COL. Pomona could very well have the best resources in sheer numbers but USNews’s system penalizes it extensively.</p>

<p>Ultimately, my point is that US News Ranking is very flawed in certain measures and shouldn’t be taken too seriously by most.</p>

18

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<p>When you run USNews, I have no doubt that you’ll adjust the weightings so that Pomona comes out on top every time.</p>

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<p>Pomona doesn’t need to provide athletic “tips” for nearly as many students as Amherst, Williams, and Middlebury do. Granted its sports teams aren’t as nationally recognized, but regardless, the fact that schools like Swarthmore and Pomona don’t need to recruit as many high-preforming varsity athletes as the NESCAC powerhouses plays a small part.</p>

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<p>When dealing with liberal arts colleges, in general, the larger the school, the greater the disadvantage when it comes to certain stats (like acceptance rate, endowment per student, student/faculty ratio, etc.). LACs don’t have the national reputations that larger DI schools have, so large student bodies don’t always translate into higher application numbers. Middlebury has grown in size by 25% in the past 15 years. Imagine what Midd’s stats would look like if its total enrollment was 1,500 students. </p>

<p>And believe it or not, 300 students makes a difference when we’re dealing with schools of this size. To get 300 more students, most colleges would need to accept more than 2-3 times that number during their admissions cycle. And we’re not comparing Middlebury and Williams here. We’re comparing Middlebury and Pomona. There’s a difference.</p>

19

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<p>The factors in which Middlebury outscores Pomona count very heavily in the US News ranking methodology:</p>

<p>Alumni giving: 5% of total score
Financial Resources: 10% of total score
Faculty Resources: 20% of total score</p>

<p>In contrast, many of the factors in which Pomona outscores Midd count for less:
Acceptance Rate: 1.5% of total score
Percentage of freshmen in top 10% of HS Class: 6% of total score
SAT/ACT scores: 7.5% of total score
Counselor rating: 7.5% of total score
Freshman retention rate: 4% of total score
Graduation rate: 16% of total score</p>

<p>Some of the other categories–full-time faculty, student:faculty ratio, class size–are subcategories of “faculty resources,” so any advantages Pomona has in these categories are presumably more than wiped out by Middebury’s advantage in the biggest faculty resources subcategory, which is faculty compensation (35% of total faculty resources score). </p>

<p>Bottom line, USNews rewards schools that spend a lot of money, and it appears to value spending over measures that more directly reflect academic quality.</p>

20

<p>While I understand your point Arcardia, I don’t get how that translates into rankings. Are you saying that Midd and Pomona are such different schools that they can’t be directly compared to one another? </p>

<p>bclintonk- The reason Pomona does so bad in faculty resources is that faculty compensation is weighted by a cost of living measure. In sheer numbers, Pomona does compensate its faculty more than do the schools ranked higher above it, but these schools have lower price indexes than Pomona and end up ranked higher. Anyway the point is that it is a somewhat arbitrary element that may not reflect a true reality (ie. how exactly do they determine cost of living and scale it?)</p>

<p>Furthurmore, Pomona spends a grand 80,000$ a student each year ([Tuition</a> Free Day](<a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/news/2012/03/19-tuition-free-day.aspx]Tuition”>http://www.pomona.edu/news/2012/03/19-tuition-free-day.aspx) the actual cost of the education is subsidized for everyone. I can’t think of another LAC that spends so much money for their students. It promises a full need, no loans, need blind policy, and anyone who knows of the school knows of the amount of resources that school has and not just that, but caters towards its students. It’s one of the most socioeconomically diverse student bodies among the LACs. Pomona spends a lot of money. It should be rewarded for it, but it’s penalized instead.</p>