These are revealed preference rankings. the methodology is explained on the site. Even though I think their College Matchup tool (% of cross-admit choosing one vs another school) is more telling and accurate than their rankings, here is the latest ranking:
National Universities:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
3.University of Pennsylvania (Penn)
Stanford University
Brown University
Dartmouth College
University of Notre Dame
Columbia University in the City of New York
University of California, Berkeley
Princeton University
Yale University
University of California, Los Angeles
Harvard University
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Rice University
16 . University of Southern California
Parchment is self selected and anonymous, i.e, garbage in- garbage out. Why use actual cross-admit information provided by the colleges when we can use our own unverified and meaningless database?
If I recall correctly, Parchment had Harvard at around 25th last year in student preference. That is, Parchment asserted that their data showed that a typical applicant would turn down an acceptance letter to Harvard and choose to go to any one of 24 other colleges. I find that conclusion very compelling and likely.
The current rankings are equally clever and undoubtedly reliable. Look at the LAC rankings. I know most top students would prefer to go to North Central University or Jamestown College or Oklahoma Baptist over, say, unranked schools like Amherst, Middlebury, Claremont McKenna, Davidson and Wesleyan.
@ThankyouforHelp I agree that their ranking seems pretty all over the place. Their college match-up tool does yield though results that make some kind of sense I think.
It is perhaps not surprising that only four of the top 20 are public universities. I wonder what the ranking would be if only in-state applicant were considered, considering the much lower tuition.
The harsh criticism of Parchment by Hobsons minions is the actual garbage here both in and out. If Hobsons could use the Naviance data in aggregate to give applicants and their parents a clue what these colleges are up then it might be “equally clever and undoubtedly reliable” too.
There is too much variation in this ranking. Student preference does not change that drastically in a year. Last year Duke was 4. This year it fell off a cliff and landed at 41. Come on now.
