So we are looking extremely seriously at Denison and a cohort of peer schools, and, out of curiosity, ran some head to head matches on Parchment. Denison had 17% acceptance rate for class of 2027 and has skyrocketed in popularity over the last 5 years. The parchment matches, however, still show Kenyon and Rhodes as 70%+, and Macalester and Sewanee 60/40, preference over Denison. Yet Denison is 63/37 over Franklin & Marshall. Do folks here think that is because of the longer time period included in Parchment metrics going into times at which Denison was less popular? And/Or is there a sense that it is less prestigious than those other schools? And/Or is it that Denison does not give as much merit and/or financial aid as the others (gives more than F&M which supports the theory)? What do you think is the reason for those unfavorable head to heads with currently peer schools?
Kenyon and Macalester are very different from Denison/Rhodes/F&M; I have trouble believing that there are enough cross-applicants and admits to make the data useful. That said, Kenyon and Macalester do have a higher standardized-testing profile, which might explain it.
To the extent that you will be considering revealed preference information from Parchment, I recommend that you dismiss comparisons that are not in color. These comparisons are not regarded by the site as being statistically significant. For example, the comparison between Denison and F&M does not appear in color.
Parchment also offers a “student choice” feature (e.g., https://www.parchment.com/c/college/college-rankings.php?thisYear=2020&thisCategory=LAC) that assigns ranks to liberal arts colleges. Note, however, that the year-to-year ranks for schools are so volatile as to indicate an overall dubious value to the endeavor, and perhaps to Parchment’s information in general.
What are the differences that come to mind when you think of it? I understand the comment as we have researched these schools ad nauseum, including visits. We are trying to get a sense of informed public perceptions of the schools.
First you have to ask yourself if you believe the student self-reported data that feeds parchment’s database. Garbage in, garbage out.
The predominance and influence of Greek life and its byproducts would be the first thing that comes to mind, particularly in a Mac-Denison comparison.
The reality is that only a very small percentage of the population knows that any of these schools exist.
Yet Kenyon and especially Rhodes have very strong frat cultures too.
True. Hopefully that percentage of the population includes graduate school officers, gulp;-)
Totally random and unreliable; see your point.
Along with the randomness, however, it’s tempting to note aspects that Parchment may have gotten correct. For example, U.S service academies, at which self-selection is notably high, placed first, second and third in the site linked above. This would appear to make sense for a “student choice” ranking.
Kenyon also seems to have done exceedingly well, which aligns with their “intentional self-selection” for an LAC in Gambier OH as they mention in their on-campus admissions info session.
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