Last year, it was Williams. This year Pomona. Both deserving the top spot.
Forbes is out to lunch. Just trying to be different. The list is preposterous!
I read a comment from a Pomona alum to the effect that, “I’m not sure about the ranking methodology, but I’m sure it’s accurate.”
In a video on the Forbes site the narrator states that Pomona College is the least known of the top 10 schools. That sounds about right. Of course rankings don’t determine a definitive “best college”, but since I have a child going there, and I will have paid Pomona a lot of money in a four year period, all I can say is “Go Pomona!”
Same sentiment here, @LibbyT. I’m a Stanford alum with a D who is Pomona Class of 2019 so I say it’s some nice national recognition. As far as I can tell, the only negative about Pomona is having to explain to people where and what it is. @oliver007 are you actually taking issue with the specific methodology or do you just disapprove of the result?
I’m not sure - “the resources of a larger university while maintaining the benefits of a small college”? Really?
"Any student attending Pomona can enroll in up to 50% of his or her classes at the other four colleges in the Claremont Colleges. This policy is similar across the Claremont Colleges; it is meant to give students the resources of a larger university while maintaining the positive qualities of a small liberal arts college. "
Seems like marketing-a-rama to me. I feel like it is bull to say SLAC when it is a SLAC with a lot of freedom to do whatever you could do in a large university. And the same problems of a large university, if you want to take advantage of the full level of resources.
But shouldn’t Harvey Mudd be really upset with their comparative ranking?
UChicago at #20? Hahahahahahahaha
Not that Pomona isn’t a great school, but I’m super skeptical of Forbes’ rankings. I feel like a lot of other websites and organizations try to create their own rankings to compete with the USNWR, and they come up with methodologies that leave weird results. Although a lot of the time I think they strive to get weird results to seem to counter popular belief and then seem more legitimate. Also yeah, UChicago at #20? Not sure how accurate this thing really is…
I’m glad that Tufts is ranked #24, but I’m not sure I agree with their ranking.
Johns Hopkins is ranked… 62nd. Really? Uhh… I think the ranking is just trying to be different and isn’t necessarily reflective of what colleges are the “best.” I think in this list all you can really say is that any of the schools in the top 75 or so are all incredibly strong. There are schools like USC and Johns Hopkins that aren’t even ranked in the top 50, but then schools like (no offense to anyone who attends/attended these schools) Lafayette or Whitman that are ranked above Vanderbilt and Carnegie Mellon.
I think it’s an interesting perspective and it shows that you don’t have to go to a huge name school to be successful. However I don’t think schools should be ranked higher than schools with big names just because “f*** the system.”
@micmatt513 This is exactly how I feel. A lot of rankings just try to be different and come up with rankings that are borderline absurd just to be the guy in the room who says “Actually…” And challenge which schools people usually place above others.
Wow, ever since the Penn State scandal. People have looked at Penn State like its the worst school in the nation. It wasn’t the school fault tho. Penn State itself is known for many good areas of study. Can anyone tell me why there ranked #152?
Actually, I find the Forbes methodology pretty unconvincing. Rate My Professor assessments count for 7.5%, there’s a “social media” component which seems to be based on a poll put out on Facebook, 10% is based on Payscale (which is also based on those who chose to respond to surveys) and a strong value is placed on schools that graduate students within 4 years (people can agree or disagree about this factor, but it definitely pushes down co-op schools such as Northeastern and many public universities where many students take longer to graduate).
Despite my alma mater’s topping the list a few times, I completely agree with @midatlmom that Forbes’ methodology is unconvincing (at best) and flat out misleading (at worst).
No swipe at Pomona; it’s a fabulous school.
Harvey Mudd at 57 and GA Tech at 90 are also pretty outrageous, but whatever…Fun to talk about, means about zippo.
I, too, believe Pomona is an over looked gem. Had I known more about the school, I would’ve certainly applied and considered going. Great academics and campus.
The reactions here really just show that people have been conditioned by the USN rankings. Not saying that the Forbes ranking is the gold standard, but I don’t believe USN should be either (especially since some schools game that heavily). Go back to the time before USN issued rankings and tell folks that you rank Lafayette over Vandy. Very few people would bat an eye.
@bernie12 and I discussed this. He looks at course rigor and results and has found that some schools that are highly ranked in USN don’t actually match their USN peers in course rigor.
Also, Forbes has UChicago 12th among research U’s, which is about where it was in USN’s ranking before it started to play the marketing/ranking game.
Just a note on style -
USNWR is a media agency that ranks colleges, among other things.
The USN is a branch of the United States Armed Forces that offers a chance to see the world.
@PurpleTitan : How exactly does Forbes work? I would imagine return on investment would play a role. I can really trust a school that ranks very highly but doesn’t have engineering like Chicago. Engineering schools should definitely help most of the “elites” of USNWR if they have return on investment as a metric. I figure any such school should perhaps be in the 30’s at least if they are doing what they are supposed to. Also, I think “somebody” is still getting a noticeable bump because of their scores and “happiness” (grateful grads I guess. Perhaps so happy about being entertained for 4 years) metrics.
Seems like Emory is being punished for what it did lol. I think in older rankings it used to maybe be in the 50’s or something. However, still having lower admissions than “peers” won’t help in any ranking. And being stressful/not as “fun” maybe hurts JHU and WashU in this sort of ranking. Given that, I think they did fine. They are great academically but don’t fit the profiles of their other elite USNWR friends that rank around them. More than I say for some other places. It is actually nice some of the other schools get a spotlight on this one because many of them should be getting a second look because they do things very well in terms of using their “student resources” yet often lack the lay prestige for prospective students to know or care.
Well, it all seems to depend on whose ox is being gored, doesn’t it? USNews performed the Solomon-like task of separating the LACs from the research universities in its poll, thus averting about 90% of the potential objections to it. To paraphrase its late creator, Mel Elfin, no one wants to see their favorite flagship state university beat out by a little college “no one has ever heard of.” Its biggest weakness, and one which its competitors exploit with varying degrees of success, is that it doesn’t really measure outcomes very well. It’s basically just a confirmation of which colleges are the wealthiest, a huge indicator, to be sure, especially when it comes to discounting tuition for middle-class applicants. But, it’s kind of a one-dimensional approach.
If student satisfaction with professors is key, then it makes sense liberal arts schools and a few elite research universities would populate the top of this list, mainly because of small class sizes and the accountability professors have toward their tiny and/or high achieving student bodies. While Pomona is not for most of us, the professors are very attentive to their customers.