<p>Why is it that LACs get little, if any, exposure in world rankings? Are they purposefully excluded? I'm just curious...I can see a few of the glaring problems, but I prefer a straight answer if possible. It's a shame really. Many internationals (mainly China) are all trying to get into Ivy League schools when they can get just as good an experience at a less prestigious university or a LAC.</p>
<p>LACs aren’t unknown by international applicants. The top LACs are outrageously generous, really damn outrageously generous, to international students with regards to financial aid.</p>
<p>World rankings pay attention to research, and LACs don’t have the faculty/graduate resources to churn out as much research as universities.</p>
<p>I agree with kwu that the research aspect is one of the main reasons.
Examine the methodologies used by these rankings. Some of them are explained in Wikipedia articles.
([College</a> and university rankings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_and_university_rankings]College”>College and university rankings - Wikipedia)).</p>
<p>Consider for example the Academic Ranking of World Universities compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. If important factors include the number of articles published by Scienceor Nature, or the number of Nobel Prize winners, then the ranking will tend to favor large research universities (especially if these numbers are not adjusted for school size).</p>
<p>LACs tend to emphasize teaching quality, and (at the most selective schools) the quality of the student community (crafting a balanced entering class of diverse backgrounds and talents). These qualities depend on complex hiring and admissions judgments. They are difficult to assess in a numbers-driven ranking.</p>
<p>The concept of the “liberal arts college” – i.e. a small, selective, private school focusing exclusively or predominantly on undergraduate teaching – is unusual or nonexistent in most countries outside the US. LACs are commonly not included in world rankings for that reason.</p>
<p>In other countries, it’s taken for granted that “real” higher education means large, state-supported universities with graduate students and major research programs. The general assumption is that a small, undergraduate institution must be less selective and prestigious, in the same sort of way that Americans make similar assumptions about junior colleges. There’s a joke, for example, that Asians won’t consider a US school if it has the word “college” instead of “university” in its name, no matter how highly ranked it is.</p>
<p>Foreigners (even Canadians) are often baffled to see world-famous universities sharing spots with LACs – which they’ve literally never heard of – in lists like the Wall Street Journal feeder school [url=<a href=“WSJ in Higher Education | Trusted News & Real-World Insights”>WSJ in Higher Education | Trusted News & Real-World Insights]rankings[/url</a>]. “Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford … Williams?? Amherst?? Swarthmore?? Huh?? How can these schools possibly deserve that ranking – those names mean nothing whatsoever to anyone in my country!! The Americans must be crazy!!”</p>
<p>Corbett is correct. In addition, many American universities are well known because they attract foreign grad students who want advanced degrees from US universities. These students generate word of mouth at home and bring their biases about what a ‘good’ school is when they arrive. LACs don’t have grad programs, so they don’t get any of the buzz. Additionally, many foreign students come to the US to study engineering-which most liberal arts colleges don’t offer. So these schools don’t show up on undergrad radars either.</p>
<p>That is starting to change as top LACs have begun recruiting internationally. More wealth in Asia, means more students who can afford to come overseas, and a wider range of acceptable undergrad courses of study (not all engineering, math, sciences, etc…) Of course, the concept of American-style education is also catching on overseas. I expect we’ll see a great many more partnerships between US and foreign universities, and more student exchanges between US colleges and universities and international counterparts in the coming decades.</p>
<p>LACs are a uniquely American invention. They pretty much don’t exist abroad.</p>
<p>I agree with you pointoforder!!</p>
<p>Agree with pointoforder as well.</p>