Money's 10 Best Liberal Arts Colleges

College Search & Selection
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  1. Williams
  2. Bowdoin
  3. Wellesley
  4. Hamilton
  5. Holy Cross
  6. St. Olaf
  7. Bates
  8. Swarthmore
  9. Amherst
  10. Trinity
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:popcorn:

(Munch, munch)

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Definitely not a ranking worth paying any credence. Doesn’t include my kiddo’s school so everyone can ignore it.

:wink::wink::wink:

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My student went to the #2. But to not include Pomona or any of the West Coast LAC’s on the list seems sketchy. Wesleyan seems like another glaring omission versus many on the list.

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For the ranking up to the 50th school, see The 10 Best Liberal Arts Colleges | Money. Wesleyan places 11th and Pomona 15th. However, the ranking indeed may lack merit for mathematical reasons. Note that the overall scores do not consistently correspond to ranking positions.

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Interesting list. I need to read the methodology because in all seriousness, there are some very surprising results.

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This is, of course, an amazingly accurate and simply stupendous list of which I heartily approve! Go Bates College!

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Good looking list. Way to go Holy Cross!

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So my daughter’s school isn’t ranked this year but think Beloit College is like 275 but 9th for most innovative colleges to show just how stupid these are. Her college experience was amazing with great outcomes for her and her friends. Just find a college that is a good fit and financially affordable and go from there.

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Actually, they ranked Beloit 18th overall.

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I looked quickly for the methodology and didn’t see it. Not sure why the rankings and the “overall score” don’t align?

If you sort based on the overall score, your list shows ranks 1, 35, 15, 2, and 39 in that order.

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Good catch! Interestingly, if you look at the other popular rankings, such as Best Selective Colleges, the overall score corresponds to the ranking. The other categories I checked quickly also ranked by the overall score. So it seems there is some error in the Liberal Arts Colleges category.

If anyone cares to review the methodology (I did not), it is available here. Money’s Methodology

Note: I do approve of the LAC rankings by Overall Score since that puts my kiddo’s school in the top 5! Haha

Additional note: VMI folks should be very happy with the Money rankings!

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Lol… I must of read something from years ago but OK. I’ll take it!! It’s a great school. Thx

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Based on every metric of the methodology linked above, the service academies (which are considered LACs) should be at the tippy top of this list. So, obviously, the list is utterly useless. :wink:

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Some surprising inclusions in the T10, but good for St. Olaf, a school that is probably not T10 but criminally ignored in discussions about good LACs. Of the midwesterns LACs, Carleton, Grinnell and Mac get 99.9% of the play.

One of my kids came very close to choosing it over a LAC that is normally much more highly ranked. Looking back on her athletic experience where she went, Olaf may have been the better choice. Kids who go there tend to be very happy with their choice.

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The list should do what they want - get the company money. :wink:

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Top Ten by Overall Score

  1. Williams
  2. Virginia Military Institute
  3. Pomona
  4. Bowdoin
  5. Washington and Lee
  6. Wellesley
  7. Swarthmore
  8. Claremont McKenna
  9. Hamilton
  10. Holy Cross
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I’d go with a list that is ranked by endowment per student.

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19

I believe topics have been created on this.

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It’s a good, and important, variable to add; but by itself, you’d ignore too many important other indicators of a good school. There are aspects of running a school that benefit from scale - of course, in this discussion, we would not include large classes because that goes to one of the fundamental benefits of a LAC.

In my ranking, I would include:

  • teacher/student ratio
  • endowment
  • amount of research activity
  • admissions selectivity
  • faculty pay
  • some measure of quality of the physical plant
  • alumni accomplishments
  • reputation in academia (small weighting)
  • PhD production
  • big credit for recognized excellence across the main categories of academic endeavor
  • some kind of input recognizing consistent placement in other rankings
  • diverse student body, measured broadly to include socio-economic and geographic diversity, as well as other backgrounds indicating the ability to overcome real life obstacles.
  • evidence of strong institutional support for people with disabilities, both learning and physical

I would give bonus credit in my algorithm to schools:

  • with mascots that can fly
  • whose colors include red or black; bonus points for both colors
  • whose alumni include at least one winner of a Pulitzer, Tony or Grammy, and one winner of an Apker award.
  • with eclectic campus architecture employing at least one well recognized example of architecture in each of the following categories: Modernist, Greek Revival, Georgian and Collegiate Gothic.

The latter bonus variables are not meant to benefit any one single LAC, no matter how it may appear.

My algorithm would penalize schools:

  • located in extreme northwestern Mass.

The latter penalty variable is not meant to unfairly diminish any one single LAC, no matter how it may appear.

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