<p>the listed schools ranked by per capita phd production (in science and engineering) during the 90s:</p>
<p>haverford
pomona
brown
rochester
vassar
colgate
bucknell
william & mary
hamilton
northwestern
middlebury
emory
wake forest
vanderbilt
virginia
north carolina
goucher
skidmore
tulane</p>
<p>now, rankings like these are far from perfect indicators of departmental strength, so the precise order is insignificant. however, i would be concerned about the smaller schools that show up near the bottom of the list in addition to those that appear to be under-ranked relative to selectivity. </p>
<p>in other words, based on academics i would almost certainly cut goucher, skidmore and tulane (and add a new safe match or two) and think about cutting some of the less-preferred (relative to admissions difficulty) schools ranked below northwestern.</p>