@juillet Thank you for your insights and questions. I am very aware that rankings by definition are not perfect and each ranking has its problems. So I decided to use multiple rankings to remove biases in any one ranking.
Also I don’t intend to use this as a definitive list obviously. As you stated, LAC’s are not included here, but that is because the rankings I used did not really evaluate them (except USnews).
I gave USnews the most weight because it is focused on the undergraduate experience. It has its issues, but for me, their methodology works because I personally do value some of the things they measure, like smaller classes and other proxies of staff and student quality, however imperfect those metrics might be.
I used the AWRU because I do think that ranking is a good indicator of research prowess, but I did not weigh it heavily because I am not going to be a graduate student. I want to get some of the benefits of research, but don’t want to give high priority to a University that is focused on graduate students/research only. I also combined it with the CWUR rankings which is more comprehensive.
Finally I used RUR because they actually do give importance to both teaching and research in equal measure, which resonated with me. I thought they were a good counter to USnews in some respects and measured international perceptions as well, which was a plus