<p>The only ranking of LACs I have seen is the US News and World report...which I know is not generally considered a good resource.</p>
<p>Is there a different ranking system of these colleges with respect to areas such Graduate School placement, on-campus job recruitment, % of students graduating with jobs, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for any help.</p>
<p>In 2003, the Wall Street Journal did a survey of current students at top medical, business, and law schools. The purpose of the study was to determine which undergraduate programs were most successful at "feeding" students into top professional schools. The results were adjusted for class size, so that LACs and large universities could be compared on an equal basis. The WSJ published a ranking of the top 50 "feeder" schools, of which about 21 are LACs.</p>
<p>You will find, however, that the WSJ rankings for LACs are rather similar to the US News rankings. The top three LACs (Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore) are the same in both lists. Nearly all of the LACs on the WSJ list are also ranked in the top 25 by US News.</p>
<p>The USNEWs "ranking" of LACs is a pretty good list as long as you keep a few points in mind:</p>
<p>a) Look at groupings of schools rather than specific ranking numbers. For example, the top three schools on the list have each held the #1 spot roughly the same number of times over the last 20 years....or over the last 10 years. Change the weighting system, as USNEWS does every few years, and the rankings reshuffle a bit.</p>
<p>b) Schools outside of New England and the northeast will be under-rated in the peer assessment column, just because college rankings are provincial like that. So keep that in mind when you look at some of the really great schools in the south, midwest, and west coast.</p>
<p>c) I think that, overall, the women's colleges are under-rated. They are terrific admissions bargains -- a little easier to get into than they would be if they were coed. This helps you, but hurts their selectivity in the "rankings".</p>
<p>Among similarly "ranked" LACs, you aren't going to find any significant differences in any of the items you mention. You will find some schools that produce more lawyers, some that produce more MDs, some that produce more PhDs, some that produce more investment bankers, etc. </p>
<p>Which brings me to the most important point. Pay attention to the culture of each school. Equally good schools attract different kinds of students. For example, some are decidedly preppy. Others are decidedly brainy. Some heavily jock. Others arsty. Or civic minded. It's best if you are comfortable with the "culture" at a small school.</p>
<p>I would second all of the points made by interesteddad. The US News rankings are useful as a general guide, don't be concerned about small ranking differences, there are some excellent LACs outside the northeast, women's colleges can be great choices, and different LACs have distinct "cultures" that you should be aware of.</p>