Prestige Rankings

Colleges and Universities A-Z Smith College
21

<p>Smith still IS a highly prestigious college. Only College Confidential would have you think otherwise, and only because Smith has fallen <em>somewhat</em> in the traditional rankings (U.S. News, etc.). Talk to anyone who knows schools, and Smith is very highly regarded. Let’s not forget, people on this board create hundreds of threads about ranking the Ivy League schools based on prestige. Two problems: 1) all of the Ivies are fairly comparable in the eyes of 99% of the world and 2) there are plenty of other elite schools besides the Ivies that do not happen to play in that particular athletics conference. </p>

<p>Rant done.</p>

22

<p>This whole business of “prestige” rankings etc is silly. But if you care about such things, Smith is 18th among Liberal Arts Colleges. A few years back when my d first starting looking at Smith, it was 14th. Not much of a “drop” there. Part of the drop can be attributed to adding military schools such as Annapolis and West Point to the “liberal arts” category, which I find kind of questionable. But in any case to a be a top twenty LAC is quite acceptable. If you base your school choice on “prestige” or “rankings” you’re missing out on what college is supposed to be all about.</p>