<p>From the March 3 Chronicle of Higher Education.The Carnegie Foundation completed an overhaul of its system for classifying colleges, the system that is used by US News.</p>
<p>It might be of interest to explore the "Lookup and Listings" pages and the "summary tables" pages on this website. The 4,382 institutions in the list are categorized by the amount of research activity, the number of graduate degrees, proportion of undergraduates, proportion of part-time, and so on.</p>
<p>The term "Liberal Arts" has been officially purged as a descriptor. They are now called "Baccalaureate Colleges" with three subcategories: Arts and Sciences, Diverse Fields, and BS/AS.</p>
<p>Research Universities are now in three groups based on the intensity of research activity: Research Universities-very high research activity, research Universities-high research activity, and Doctoral/research universities. There are only 94 universities in the "very high research activity" group.</p>
<p>The Carnegie Foundation hopes the new system will be useful to prospective students and their parents. The Carnegie Foundation believes its system is better than using college rankings.</p>
<p>This is a great site. It allows you to find similar institutions. For instance, I searched for one school and it listed its classification specs. Then I clicked all the boxes and searched for identical institutions and got under 50. So if you put in a school that you really like, you can find like institutions from this site and do further research.</p>
<p>this is a preview of the new search engine...the old search engine is being updated</p>
<p>start with the name of a college that you know you like
type in the name of the institution or choose from an alphabetical list
then click the checkboxes on the right to search for colleges with those same characteristics
then click "find similar"</p>
<p>you can narrow or widen your search depending on how many boxes you check</p>
<p>for example, here is a list of the 94 universities out of 4000+) with a "basic classification" of "research university with very high research activity" RU/VH</p>
<p>This list was derived by entering "massachusetts Institute of Technology" and checking only the "basic classification" box. It could be narrowed further by checking more boxes.</p>
<p>Institution City State Control
Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus TEMPE AZ Public
Boston University BOSTON MA Private not-for-profit
Brandeis University WALTHAM MA Private not-for-profit
Brown University PROVIDENCE RI Private not-for-profit
California Institute of Technology PASADENA CA Private not-for-profit
Carnegie Mellon University PITTSBURGH PA Private not-for-profit
Case Western Reserve University CLEVELAND OH Private not-for-profit
Colorado State University FORT COLLINS CO Public
Columbia University in the City of New York NEW YORK NY Private not-for-profit
Cornell University-Endowed Colleges ITHACA NY Private not-for-profit
Dartmouth College HANOVER NH Private not-for-profit
Duke University DURHAM NC Private not-for-profit
Emory University ATLANTA GA Private not-for-profit
Florida State University TALLAHASSEE FL Public
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus ATLANTA GA Public
Harvard University CAMBRIDGE MA Private not-for-profit
Indiana University-Bloomington BLOOMINGTON IN Public
Iowa State University AMES IA Public
Johns Hopkins University BALTIMORE MD Private not-for-profit
Kansas State University MANHATTAN KS Public
Louisiana State Univ & Ag & Mech & Hebert Laws Center BATON ROUGE LA Public
Massachusetts Institute of Technology CAMBRIDGE MA Private not-for-profit
Michigan State University EAST LANSING MI Public
Montana State University-Bozeman BOZEMAN MT Public
New York University NEW YORK NY Private not-for-profit
North Carolina State University at Raleigh RALEIGH NC Public
Northwestern University EVANSTON IL Private not-for-profit
Ohio State University-Main Campus COLUMBUS OH Public
Oregon State University CORVALLIS OR Public
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus UNIVERSITY PARK PA Public
Princeton University PRINCETON NJ Private not-for-profit
Purdue University-Main Campus WEST LAFAYETTE IN Public
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute TROY NY Private not-for-profit
Rice University HOUSTON TX Private not-for-profit
Rutgers University-New Brunswick NEW BRUNSWICK NJ Public
Stanford University STANFORD CA Private not-for-profit
SUNY at Albany ALBANY NY Public
SUNY at Buffalo BUFFALO NY Public
SUNY at Stony Brook STONY BROOK NY Public
Texas A & M University COLLEGE STATION TX Public
Tufts University MEDFORD MA Private not-for-profit
Tulane University of Louisiana NEW ORLEANS LA Private not-for-profit
University of Alabama at Birmingham BIRMINGHAM AL Public
University of Arizona TUCSON AZ Public
University of California-Berkeley BERKELEY CA Public
University of California-Davis DAVIS CA Public
University of California-Irvine IRVINE CA Public
University of California-Los Angeles LOS ANGELES CA Public
University of California-Riverside RIVERSIDE CA Public
University of California-San Diego LA JOLLA CA Public
University of California-Santa Barbara SANTA BARBARA CA Public
University of California-Santa Cruz SANTA CRUZ CA Public
University of Chicago CHICAGO IL Private not-for-profit
University of Cincinnati-Main Campus CINCINNATI OH Public
University of Colorado at Boulder BOULDER CO Public
University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center DENVER CO Public
University of Connecticut STORRS CT Public
University of Delaware NEWARK DE Public
University of Florida GAINESVILLE FL Public
University of Georgia ATHENS GA Public
University of Hawaii at Manoa HONOLULU HI Public
University of Illinois at Chicago CHICAGO IL Public
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign CHAMPAIGN IL Public
University of Iowa IOWA CITY IA Public
University of Kansas Main Campus LAWRENCE KS Public
University of Kentucky LEXINGTON KY Public
University of Maryland-College Park COLLEGE PARK MD Public
University of Massachusetts-Amherst AMHERST MA Public
University of Miami CORAL GABLES FL Private not-for-profit
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor ANN ARBOR MI Public
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities MINNEAPOLIS MN Public
University of Missouri-Columbia COLUMBIA MO Public
University of Nebraska at Lincoln LINCOLN NE Public
University of New Mexico-Main Campus ALBUQUERQUE NM Public
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill CHAPEL HILL NC Public
University of Notre Dame NOTRE DAME IN Private not-for-profit
University of Pennsylvania PHILADELPHIA PA Private not-for-profit
University of Pittsburgh-Main Campus PITTSBURGH PA Public
University of Rochester ROCHESTER NY Private not-for-profit
University of South Carolina-Columbia COLUMBIA SC Public
University of South Florida TAMPA FL Public
University of Southern California LOS ANGELES CA Private not-for-profit
University of Tennessee, The KNOXVILLE TN Public
University of Texas at Austin, The AUSTIN TX Public
University of Utah SALT LAKE CITY UT Public
University of Virginia-Main Campus CHARLOTTESVILLE VA Public
University of Washington-Seattle Campus SEATTLE WA Public
University of Wisconsin-Madison MADISON WI Public
Vanderbilt University NASHVILLE TN Private not-for-profit
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ BLACKSBURG VA Public
Washington State University PULLMAN WA Public
Washington University in St. Louis ST LOUIS MO Private not-for-profit
Wayne State University DETROIT MI Public
Yale University NEW HAVEN CT Private not-for-profit
Yeshiva University NEW YORK NY Private not-for-profit</p>
<p>I hope it is useful to prospective students and their parents, but the Carnegie Classification system originated as a tool for researchers, policymakers, and other people in higher ed. That is still its main purpose, although it's wonderful if it helps people in their college search. I didn't want anyone to misunderstand the intention of the classification.</p>
<p>Here is the list that matches Swarthmore on all 8 criteria. It's a pretty good comparison group but there some interesting omissions such as Middlebury and Smith. Middlebury has some "graduate coexistence" whereas Swarthmore does not. Middlebury winds up in a category of one.</p>
<p>Institution City State Control
Albion College ALBION MI Private not-for-profit
Allegheny College MEADVILLE PA Private not-for-profit
Amherst College AMHERST MA Private not-for-profit
Barnard College NEW YORK NY Private not-for-profit
Bates College LEWISTON ME Private not-for-profit
Beloit College BELOIT WI Private not-for-profit
Bowdoin College BRUNSWICK ME Private not-for-profit
Carleton College NORTHFIELD MN Private not-for-profit
Centre College DANVILLE KY Private not-for-profit
Claremont McKenna College CLAREMONT CA Private not-for-profit
Colby College WATERVILLE ME Private not-for-profit
College of the Holy Cross WORCESTER MA Private not-for-profit
College of Wooster WOOSTER OH Private not-for-profit
Cornell College MOUNT VERNON IA Private not-for-profit
Davidson College DAVIDSON NC Private not-for-profit
Denison University GRANVILLE OH Private not-for-profit
DePauw University GREENCASTLE IN Private not-for-profit
Dickinson College CARLISLE PA Private not-for-profit
Franklin and Marshall College LANCASTER PA Private not-for-profit
Grinnell College GRINNELL IA Private not-for-profit
Hamilton College CLINTON NY Private not-for-profit
Hampden-Sydney College HAMPDEN-SYDNEY VA Private not-for-profit
Hampshire College AMHERST MA Private not-for-profit
Hanover College HANOVER IN Private not-for-profit
Haverford College HAVERFORD PA Private not-for-profit
Kalamazoo College KALAMAZOO MI Private not-for-profit
Kenyon College GAMBIER OH Private not-for-profit
Knox College GALESBURG IL Private not-for-profit
Lafayette College EASTON PA Private not-for-profit
Lawrence University APPLETON WI Private not-for-profit
Macalester College ST PAUL MN Private not-for-profit
Pomona College CLAREMONT CA Private not-for-profit
Saint Olaf College NORTHFIELD MN Private not-for-profit
Southwestern University GEORGETOWN TX Private not-for-profit
Swarthmore College SWARTHMORE PA Private not-for-profit
Union College SCHENECTADY NY Private not-for-profit
Ursinus College COLLEGEVILLE PA Private not-for-profit
Vassar College POUGHKEEPSIE NY Private not-for-profit
Wellesley College WELLESLEY MA Private not-for-profit
Wheaton College NORTON MA Private not-for-profit
Whitman College WALLA WALLA WA Private not-for-profit</p>
<p>By the way, according the article in the Chronicle, it is not yet clear HOW the new classification system would affect the US News Best Colleges breakdown, and it wouldn't happen until the 2008 issue. The 2007 issue will be out this August and it is too late to make changes.</p>