<p>^Most likely.</p>
<p>No, but seriously, Bowdoin used to be considered inferior to places like Wesleyan, and now it is more highly regarded amongst many (deservedly so IMO) and the rankings reflect this shift.</p>
<p>I think once USNews broke the rankings up into separate categories twenty years ago, with one for national universities and another for national liberal arts colleges, the latter tended to coalesce around the five or six that were the most like each other in size, scope and traditional mission. Wesleyan and Tufts have always tended to be the most “university-like” of the NESCAC colleges and would probably rank higher if the two categories were combined with any degree of attention to things like research and publications.</p>
<p>tufts and wesleyan are definitely not as good as top nescacs like williams. i don’t think they would be ranked higher. rankings aren’t just research and publications…you’ve also got $ amount invested per student. facilities relative to student body size. student faculty ratio. alum network strength. bigger does not equal better in this case. student research opportunities are also better for small schools. i think bowdoin, midd, williams, would rank higher than wesleyan and tufts even in a compiled ranking</p>
<p>Idk enough about Tufts to completely answer your point, however the per capita academic expenditures for Wesleyan and Williams are almost identical (I agree that Williams spends more on athletics – they spend more than just about any other NESCAC school.) And, yes, while Middlebury has gotten a lot of publicity for its building program recently, the fact remains that controlling for size, Wesleyan faculty receive more NIH and NSF research grants (this was true even before the government began handing out stimulus money to universities), resulting in more research opportunities for its undergradutes.</p>
<p>I would argue that Wesleyan is much more like Williams and Middlebury than Tufts in its feel (size-wise and on the LAC-university spectrum… Tufts is 5,000 undergrads, whereas Wes is 2,800 and Midd 2,400). Tufts is a full-fledged research university with many graduate schools that happens to be in the same athletic conference as liberal arts colleges, whereas Wesleyan is a liberal arts college with some science graduate programs tacked on (and no graduate schools). Bowdoin and Amherst are on the opposite side of the spectrum, being just 1,700 students.</p>
<p>Amherst and Williams are definitely the leaders of the NESCAC, with Bowdoin, Middlebury, and Wesleyan in the next grouping. Wesleyan gets hurt in the rankings because its slightly larger size dilutes its $ numbers, especially compared to small LACs like Bowdoin, despite having comparable expenditure ratios. </p>
<p>I’ll note that Newsweek did Bowdoin a great disservice by grouping it into its “25 New Elite Ivies” list… Bowdoin belonged in the statement
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<p>@cilyboi: Actually, I believe Bowdoin, Midd, and Wesleyan all have 9:1 student-faculty ratios (Bowdoin was 10:1 until very recently)… and Wesleyan’s few graduate programs actually do give it more undergrad research opportunities than the other NESCAC schools</p>
<p>Rankings vary and one needs to figure out which ranking one wants to trust. Under the high school counselors ranking of schools, there are quite a shift among the schools.</p>
<p>ehh i don’t know. i just don’t see the same strength of alumni coming from places like wesleyan. and their endowment is really quite small for how big their student body is when compared to the other top nescacs</p>
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<p>I assume you’re completely discounting music and the film/television industry when you say that? And football coaches? :P</p>
<p>But really. JW might be right about Wes ranking fairly high in a combined ranking, depending on how strongly “university” qualities are regarded vs. other things like endowment (where Wes really suffers in rankings). But I think anyone who goes to an LAC (including Wes students) would agree that would be a silly reason for those schools to rank higher.</p>
<p>The problem with combining Uni/LAC rankings is they are so different. If Wes and Tufts won the nescacs in a ranking because of their uni like qualities, the problem is with the ranking! And I say that as a proud Weskid, too.</p>