<p>xiggi-
I’ve looked in-depth into the Peer Assessment ratings for LACs. It is more difficult to account for the LAC PA ratings than for universities but I can still account for 84% of the PA rating for LACs with hard data using the following factors:</p>
<p>student-faculty ratio
SAT 25th percentile
acceptance rate
financial resources rank
percent of classes under 20
percent of full-time faculty
alumni giving rate</p>
<p>I calculated a formula for predicting PA scores using hard data and below is the result. The estimated PA that is calculated from hard data places Harvey Mudd higher and Smith lower in PA than the actual US News. </p>
<p>So, the PA for Smith is hard to explain with hard data. It could be that people give it a higher than expected PA because of its excellence among women’s colleges. </p>
<p>But, the following list shows that hard data predicts other LAC schools’ PA pretty well (generally within three-tenths).</p>
<p>rank, name, calculated PA, actual US News PA</p>
<pre><code> 1 Amherst College 4.57 4.7
2 Carleton College 4.47 4.4
3 Williams College 4.46 4.7
4 Harvey Mudd 4.41 4.1
5 Pomona College 4.37 4.2
6 Bowdoin College 4.28 4.3
7 Swarthmo College 4.27 4.6
8 Middlebu College 4.26 4.2
9 Wesleyan Universi 4.25 4.2
10 Washingt Lee 4.20 3.9
11 Vassar College 4.15 4.1
12 Wellesle College 4.15 4.5
13 Haverfor College 4.13 4.1
14 US Naval 4.09 4.0
15 Davidson College 4.03 4.2
16 Colgate Universi 4.00 4.0
17 Claremon McKenna 4.00 4.0
18 Bates College 4.00 4.0
19 Grinnell College 3.96 4.3
20 Colby College 3.96 4.0
21 Oberlin College 3.90 4.2
22 Bryn Mawr 3.84 4.1
23 Hamilton College 3.83 3.7
24 Colorado College 3.80 3.8
25 Holy Cross 3.80 3.6
26 Kenyon College 3.79 3.8
27 Bucknell Universi 3.78 3.8
28 Trinity College 3.75 3.6
29 Barnard College 3.74 3.9
30 Mount Holyoke 3.73 4.0
31 Franklin Marshall 3.72 3.5
32 Macalest College 3.71 4.1
33 Lafayett College 3.71 3.4
34 Scripps College 3.70 3.7
35 Connecti College 3.70 3.5
36 Bard College 3.68 3.4
37 Denison Universi 3.68 3.4
38 Universi Richmond 3.66 3.6
39 Centre College 3.62 3.4
40 Occident College 3.61 3.7
41 US Military 3.61 4.0
42 Smith College 3.60 4.3
43 Furman Universi 3.56 3.5
44 Skidmore College 3.55 3.4
45 Lawrence Universi 3.51 3.3
46 Gettysbu College 3.48 3.3
47 Whitman College 3.46 3.3
48 Dickinso College 3.46 3.4
49 Pitzer College 3.44 3.5
50 New College 3.44 2.8
51 Reed College 3.43 3.9
52 Union College 3.42 3.3
53 Wheaton College 3.40 3.2
54 Wabash College 3.39 3.3
55 Wheaton College 3.36 3.3
56 Agnes Scott 3.34 3.3
57 Rhodes College 3.30 3.5
58 DePauw Universi 3.30 3.4
59 Sewanee Univ 3.29 3.6
60 St. Lawrence 3.28 3.2
61 Kalamazo College 3.28 3.2
62 Illinois Wesleyan 3.25 3.1
63 Wofford College 3.24 2.9
64 Hobart College 3.17 3.2
65 Berea College 3.16 3.3
</code></pre>