<p>It is one of the top LACs in the country. How could it be on the rise? It doesn’t really have much higher to go.</p>
<p>I’ve been checking out various LAC’s to find some to suggest to my son for his college list, and I have noticed that they do vary quite a bit in the number, depth, and breadth of their course offerings in different disciplines. They can also differ quite a bit in the number of faculty they have in different departments. It may be silly to quibble about the differences in overall quality of the elite LAC’s, but the schools do vary significantly.</p>
<p>Austin, yes, I’ve always said there are real differences in particular areas. Midd is particularly strong in environmental and international studies, Williams is particularly strong in art history, etc, but in terms of overall educational quality the top ten are approximately equal.</p>
<p>Of course, and that is because it is impossible to MEASURE educational quality. At least not in an objective manner. One can measure the selectivity of students, the graduation rates, the size or accomplishment of the faculty, or the wealth of a school. What you have left after that are biased, frivolous, and mostly self-serving beauty contests such as the peer assessments.</p>
<p>LACs, at the top, are not part of a homogeneous group. Consider how different Harvey Mudd is from Pomona despite sharing facilities and, at times, students. The differences in departmental strengths and weaknesses are striking and more important that rankings that reflect geographical and historical cronyism.</p>