Ranking schools based on input and output

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I weighed grad rate (output) the same as SATs (input) to get overall index. Based on 2013 IPEDS data. I think this captures both the quality of the student body and the quality of the school's faculty, resources, campus life, and all the other factors that affect grad rate.</p>

<p>I thought this list might help prospective students determine which schools were matches, reaches, safeties. </p>

<p>grad rate, SAT CR 25th, SAT CR 75th, SAT math 25th, SAT math 75th, percent who submitted SATs, state, school</p>

<p>98 700 800 710 790 84 CT Yale University
97 700 800 710 800 86 MA Harvard University
97 700 800 710 800 86 NJ Princeton University
93 720 800 770 800 88 CA California Institute of Technology
96 680 780 700 790 86 CA Stanford University
93 720 800 720 790 70 IL University of Chicago
96 690 760 690 780 78 CA Pomona College
94 700 760 720 790 55 MO Washington University in St Louis
93 680 770 750 800 85 MA Massachusetts Institute of Technology
96 670 760 690 780 81 PA University of Pennsylvania
93 700 780 710 790 44 TN Vanderbilt University
96 670 760 680 770 63 MA Amherst College
95 670 780 680 780 69 NH Dartmouth College
94 690 760 700 790 64 IL Northwestern University
93 690 780 700 790 90 NY Columbia University in the City of New York
95 670 780 660 780 86 MA Williams College
94 670 760 690 790 79 NC Duke University
95 660 760 670 780 79 RI Brown University
95 660 750 680 770 44 IN University of Notre Dame
91 680 760 720 800 89 CA Harvey Mudd College
93 680 760 670 770 81 PA Swarthmore College
93 680 760 680 750 53 ME Bowdoin College
92 680 750 690 770 62 MA Tufts University
91 670 760 700 790 80 TX Rice University
93 640 740 680 780 82 NY Cornell University
93 650 740 670 770 79 MD Johns Hopkins University
92 660 750 680 770 61 MN Carleton College
93 650 740 670 760 58 CA Claremont McKenna College
94 660 740 650 730 75 NY Vassar College
93 660 750 650 740 77 PA Haverford College
94 630 740 640 740 73 VT Middlebury College
92 650 750 660 750 87 DC Georgetown University
93 640 730 660 740 58 NY Hamilton College
91 660 760 650 750 77 MA Wellesley College
92 640 740 660 740 80 CT Wesleyan University
88 640 740 700 790 90 PA Carnegie Mellon University
93 620 720 630 740 89 VA University of Virginia-Main Campus
91 620 720 660 760 79 CA University of Southern California
93 620 710 640 720 67 ME Colby College
90 650 740 660 720 62 VA Washington and Lee University
91 620 720 650 740 66 NY Colgate University
91 620 710 650 750 76 GA Emory University
90 620 720 660 760 34 MI University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
91 620 710 650 740 75 MA Boston College
91 590 720 630 770 91 CA University of California-Berkeley
92 630 730 600 710 79 NC Davidson College
90 640 740 630 720 89 VA College of William and Mary
90 600 710 630 760 75 MA Brandeis University
89 650 740 620 715 71 OH Oberlin College
90 620 730 620 710 73 NY Barnard College
91 580 680 620 720 68 PA Bucknell University
86 620 730 630 770 49 IA Grinnell College
85 620 720 670 768 74 NY Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
90 590 700 610 710 78 NC University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
90 590 690 620 710 67 PA Villanova University
89 630 720 600 690 65 OH Kenyon College
90 560 680 600 760 91 CA University of California-Los Angeles
87 620 740 610 710 59 MN Macalester College
91 570 670 620 690 84 CT United States Coast Guard Academy
88 610 730 610 693 67 WA Whitman College
83 640 730 660 750 53 MA Northeastern University
88 590 680 630 720 45 NY Union College
87 610 710 610 720 49 CO Colorado College
88 600 700 610 700 80 CA Occidental College
84 640 733 640 720 73 CA Scripps College
85 600 700 650 750 67 NY University of Rochester
87 600 720 610 700 58 IL Wheaton College
84 620 720 630 740 78 NY New York University
84 560 670 700 780 28 IL University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
87 590 710 590 710 37 MN St Olaf College
86 580 670 640 740 72 PA Lehigh University
88 570 680 610 700 82 MD United States Naval Academy
82 660 750 620 720 84 OR Reed College
84 600 710 610 760 79 PA Bryn Mawr College
88 570 670 610 700 77 PA Lafayette College
86 590 690 620 710 47 CO United States Air Force Academy
82 600 700 660 760 88 GA Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus
85 590 690 620 720 67 VA University of Richmond
82 610 710 610 780 86 NY Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
87 580 670 590 690 63 FL University of Florida
86 550 660 620 730 93 CA University of California-San Diego
80 600 720 670 760 65 OH Case Western Reserve University
84 580 690 620 730 91 MD University of Maryland-College Park
86 590 675 600 690 55 PA Dickinson College
82 600 700 630 720 49 FL University of Miami
84 590 680 610 700 79 CA Santa Clara University
84 570 670 610 720 84 MA Boston University
84 600 690 600 680 78 PA Gettysburg College
84 580 695 600 690 85 NY United States Military Academy
86 570 680 580 670 48 CT Trinity College
87 540 630 600 680 89 MA Bentley University
86 570 670 570 670 70 PA Muhlenberg College
86 560 680 570 670 78 NY Skidmore College
83 530 650 630 750 22 WI University of Wisconsin-Madison
81 590 675 630 710 93 NY SUNY at Binghamton
85 550 680 550 690 66 NY Yeshiva University
83 540 660 610 720 39 OH Ohio State University-Main Campus
81 600 690 600 700 75 DC George Washington University
84 550 660 580 680 93 NJ The College of New Jersey
84 550 670 570 670 65 SC Furman University
83 560 660 590 680 64 SC Clemson University
82 560 690 590 680 59 TX Trinity University
79 600 690 620 700 60 TX Southern Methodist University
79 570 670 640 720 77 NJ Stevens Institute of Technology
83 550 650 580 680 91 CT University of Connecticut
81 590 660 600 670 22 OH Denison University
85 530 630 560 670 78 PA Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
81 570 670 590 680 82 NY Fordham University
83 540 640 580 680 92 VA Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
82 560 660 580 670 86 GA University of Georgia
82 550 670 560 680 37 KY Centre College
82 520 650 580 710 86 WA University of Washington-Seattle Campus
76 620 700 620 700 58 LA Tulane University of Louisiana
80 590 690 570 660 67 DC American University
80 570 660 600 680 89 PA University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus
78 580 690 600 700 57 NY SUNY College at Geneseo
82 560 660 560 660 78 NC Elon University
80 590 700 570 640 84 CA Thomas Aquinas College
84 540 627 560 640 62 MD Loyola University Maryland
81 590 670 550 650 84 MA Emerson College
79 550 670 590 710 83 TX The University of Texas at Austin
82 550 680 530 660 6 MN Gustavus Adolphus College
81 540 650 580 680 32 OH Miami University-Oxford
82 542 669 537 665 89 PA Grove City College
78 590 690 580 680 47 TN Rhodes College
80 560 660 570 680 76 CA Pepperdine University
85 520 620 530 640 75 RI Providence College
81 530 650 560 690 93 CA University of California-Santa Barbara
86 460 600 530 670 95 CA University of California-Irvine
78 570 680 580 680 32 UT Brigham Young University-Provo
82 540 640 550 650 80 WA Gonzaga University
75 550 690 620 740 14 MN University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
81 510 640 560 680 93 CA University of California-Davis
85 510 610 520 620 84 MA Stonehill College
82 520 630 540 650 99 DE University of Delaware
82 540 620 540 640 81 SC Wofford College
79 570 670 540 650 92 MD St Mary's College of Maryland
78 550 710 540 660 39 WI Beloit College
78 580 670 560 650 50 TN Sewanee-The University of the South
75 600 700 580 670 59 OR Lewis & Clark College
79 520 640 570 690 95 NJ Rutgers University-New Brunswick
78 570 670 550 660 74 WA University of Puget Sound
78 510 620 570 740 15 IL Illinois Wesleyan University
79 520 650 550 680 40 IN DePauw University
79 540 660 540 650 68 OR Willamette University
78 540 660 560 660 44 CO University of Denver
77 550 670 540 690 28 MI Kalamazoo College
81 500 620 540 650 81 NY Syracuse University
82 510 590 540 630 72 RI Bryant University
81 520 620 530 630 94 VA James Madison University</p>

2

<p>If you want to find treatment effects (i.e. how well the school gets students to graduate, given the academic credentials of the incoming students), then you need to consider graduation rate relative to the graduation rate predicted by the academic credentials of the incoming students. Graduation rate alone is substantially due to selection effect, based on incoming students’ academic credentials.</p>

<p>Of course, other non-academic characteristics of incoming students can also affect graduation rate, such as how many attend part time, need to work to afford school (taking lower course loads), etc…</p>

3

<p>I disagree that graduation rate necessarily predicts the quality of the institution. A school or college can have a high graduation rate but lower standards, it doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone who graduates from that college is well prepared for the real world</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the comments so far.</p>

<p>I think this works better than the selection effect alone. Caltech had the highest SAT midpoint but their grad rate was 93% versus the 98% and 97% or Harvard/Yale/Princeton so Caltech fell in rank. Likewise for MIT. I know these are tech schools…I don’t think that excuses the grad rates. This method captures roughly what is captured by US News under/overperformance score and adjusts the ranking accordingly.</p>

5

<p>By the way, the correlation between grad rate and SAT math 25th percentile, for example, is +.73 which is a very high correlation but it leaves 50% of the explanation for grad rates unaccounted for.</p>

6

<p>“Caltech had the highest SAT midpoint but their grad rate was 93% versus the 98% and 97% or Harvard/Yale/Princeton so Caltech fell in rank. Likewise for MI.T. I know these are tech schools…I don’t think that excuses the grad rates”</p>

<p>You’re wrong. Schools that have large/very large engineering programs typically have lower four year graduation rates. It usually takes more than 8 semesters to finish engineering. That schools like MIT, Caltech, Berkeley, and Michigan even have 90% or better graduation rates is very impressive considering the large numbers of those types of students enrolled. </p>

7

<p>You could start by defining a “match” as any school where your SATs fall between the 25th and 75th percentile, a reach as any school where your SATs fall within, say, 40 points below the 25th percentile. Then filter schools out based on other criteria.</p>

8

<p>rjkofnovi, I think these are six-year graduation rates but I still agree with your point that engineering majors graduate at lower rates than equally academically able non-engineering majors, even after six years, and so going by graduation rates without accounting for that will skew the results and penalize STEM schools.</p>

9

<p>“You could start by defining a “match” as any school where your SATs fall between the 25th and 75th percentile, a reach as any school where your SATs fall within, say, 40 points below the 25th percentile. Then filter schools out based on other criteria.” (sorry, can’t remember how to get that quote box)</p>

<p>This isn’t exactly true for the top schools (many of the ones in your example). No one is a match for a school like Harvard or Stanford. Even when a student has scores in their range, those schools are still reaches.</p>