<p>The PhD rates are probably very good indicators of the nature of the educational experience at a given college, particularly those that have unusually high rates. </p>
<p>Which type of experience is best depends on the orientation and goals of the student and will vary from individual to individual. Therefore, as with other attempts to rank colleges, it fails at the step where one has to assume that the criterion is equally important to all prospective students.</p>
<p>Someone who thinks like a future PhD will probably find the experience at one of the places with high PhD rates very gratifying. Another student, equally talented and ambitious, but not headed toward a research career, might find the same place miserable.</p>
<p>A high PhD rate does not mean that the academic experience is uniformly better than a place with a low rate, but it probably means that it is different. </p>
<p>It might reflect a science and engineering focus among the students, but many of the high PhD LAC’s send students to PhD programs across the range of academic fields.</p>
<p>It is not a consequence of the college being small. </p>
<p>It is not a reflection of poor job prospects for the graduates.</p>