@OHMomof2 - It is surprising because students at a college are members of a community. That cannot be assessed by looking at lists. When looking at colleges with my oldest son we visited Johns Hopkins. The second he stepped on campus he hated it. He wound up going to Case Western, which looked pretty similar to Johns Hopkins on paper. Both urban, similar number of UG students, focus on science/research. Of course JH is ranked higher on every list but if a student hates it the minute they step on campus there is no ranking that will make up for that. I think rankings can be somewhat useful but should not be a major factor in college choice.
Why isn’t Niche more highly considered on college rankings? Unlike most other rankings are PURELY numbers and data, Niche actually had reviews from ACTUAL students, which is honestly invaluable.
We agree on this. Rankings offer some useful information, direct experience offers even more, likely better, info.
@Proudpatriot Your story about your son is very similar to my own story – I hated Yale & told my dad I wouldn’t get out of the car (he made me anyways) & I loved Duke (& went there). There are certain “vibes” that each campus has even with similar profiles and outcomes.
This meta-list seems to overlook strong regional universities, such as Villanova or Richmond or Santa Clara, for example. Villanova, which used be USNWR Northeast Regional #1 moved this year to National Universities #50. But it won’t show up in an aggregated list.
For the most part both lists look spot on, except for Duke, ranked way too high.
While I agree USNWR has its share of flaws, the hard question is what do you replace it with that’s any better?
I don’t understand the Duke remark, but I’m not a fan of these lists in any case. Lists all get a bit different once the candidate can narrow down his/her interests in majors. Candidates individual lists should always reflect affordability unless “money is no object”.
I think the best way to look at the original list posted here and the other 2-3 very similar lists posted in the comments, is in tiers. What I mean is that it is rather intuitive that HYPSM would appear in the top 5 in some order or another, and that Caltech, Penn, Columbia, Chicago and Duke would occupy the rest of the top 10 in some order or another.
Maybe the particular position of Duke seems too high for some, but I think the better way to interpret this is that Duke ranks somewhere between #6-#10, which I think is fairly accurate. Duke is definitely a top 10 school.
wow tufts doesn’t even make your list @Midwestmomofboys ?
@myspacerules91 tufts isnt a liberal arts college
@myspacerules91 Tufts is #30 on the university ranking – the original post which started this thread. I copied and pasted the first 50 LACs.
" Duke is definitely a top 10 school… " even though it has few programs actually ranked in the top ten…
^^Duke is more a top regional university, but not top 10 overall. Don’t know what rankings suggest it is.
@rjkofnovi @preppedparent I get what you are saying, but I think when focusing on undergrad it is in the top 10 although probably the last of the top 10 schools in my opinion for the very reason you mention. Departmental strength definitely matters a lot even when looking at undergrad quality, standing, perception, rankings etc but it is not the only thing of importance I think. Out of curiosity, which school would you put in the top 10 instead of Duke?
^^^^^^
Stanford University CA private 1
Harvard University MA private 2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology MA private 3
Princeton University NJ private 4
Yale University CT private 5
University of Pennsylvania PA private 6
Duke University NC private 7
Columbia University NY private 8
University of California at Berkeley CA public 9
California Institute of Technology CA private 10
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor MI public 11
Since Berkeley is already listed in the top ten, then Michigan would be the one to replace Duke. 
None of the major undergraduate rankings compare colleges by counting the number of top 10 programs.
Arts & science department rankings typically depend on bibliometric analysis (if they aren’t completely subjective). They count faculty publications and citations. By these measures, virtually any state flagship has more top programs than virtually any LAC (even if the most-published scholars seldom even teach undergraduates).
If we’re comparing collective contributions to the public good, or something like that, it might make sense to compare colleges that way. Washington Monthly (“Mother Teresa ranking”) has a research component as well as social mobility and service components. It ranks UCSD, UC Riverside, TAMU, BYU, and UFlorida right up there with Stanford, several Ivies, and Duke.
“None of the major undergraduate rankings compare colleges by counting the number of top 10 programs.”
Obviously.
^ Here is one attempt that uses US News department rankings in business and engineering (undergrad) and biology, chemistry, computer science, earth sciences, economics, education, English, history, math, physics, political science, psychology and sociology (graduate level). The author explains some of the limitations of this approach in the preface:
http://publicuniversityhonors.com/rankings-academic-departments-private-elites-vs-publics/
P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
What’s up with all the salty Duke hate?