@Sue22: That was a “placeholder” comment. I believe the OP is an accomplished figure skater with high SAT scores. I missed the GPA.
@merc81 what do you mean by placeholder?
@cowycam: Meaning subject to further refinement or clarification, either from me or other posters. The key is to establish where your applications are appropriate, not necessarily where you are likely to be accepted (unless that’s what you specifically want to know, and then you will get replies along those lines.) I got the impression that you already understand that you are interested in some very selective colleges where many qualified applicants are denied, and that your particular application is still a work in progress.
Not sure which list you were referring to with Bates as #1, but here is a recent list of liberal arts college economics programs ranked on citations (Bates does indeed rate favorably at 13):
- Williams - listed by OP
- Wellesley
- Middlebury - listed by OP
- Wesleyan - listed by OP
- Hamilton
https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html
@cowycam7 Williams, Midd, and Wes are all in top 5, but all the schools you list are in the top 17. Most citations does not mean the program is the best in terms of teaching or producing successful grads, so this metric only serves to point out that all the schools you listed likely have excellent economics programs. Perhaps there are other aspects about each school you make like more or less? Seems it’s a wash with the econ departments…
@smartalic34 thank you. Although I love wellesley and their campus, I hate that they are a girls only school 
Of the NESCAC schools, Tufts (part university/part LAC - no Econ Phd), Hamilton and Conn College apear to have competitive figure skating.
Colgate appears to as well.
Stonehill (#29 on LAC Econ) also appears to offer competitive skating.
Tufts feeds Wall Street, but I don’t know how much figure skating would help your application…
http://www.usfsa.org/content/Collegiate%20Skating%20Factsheet%2013%2014.pdf
All it really means is that economics professors at certain schools are registered with this service, and that professors at the highest-ranked schools have relatively many publications/citations, compared to professors from other schools who also are registered.
It’s very hard to rank departments. Using bibliometric data is one approach. Even if the bibliometric data were very accurate and comprehensive, it might not tell you too much about teaching quality (although it’s probably a pretty good indicator of faculty scholarship). Another approach would be to do peer opinion surveys (like the ones US News does for graduate programs). However, it’s unlikely that very many professors would be very familiar with the current quality of many departments besides their own. You could count PhD production (how many alumni earn PhDs in economics, out of all graduating econ majors, over some period of time). The data is available to do that on the webcaspar and IPEDS sites, but there are confounding issues such as lack of information about where the degrees are earned.
@mastadon,
Colgate, Hamilton, and Tufts all have skating clubs, but figure skating’s not a varsity sport at any of them. What that means is that there would be an opportunity for the OP to have ice time and train with other skaters, but unless she’s a real standout (olympic hopeful) it may not help her much with admissions. There won’t be a coach to back up her application the way there would be if she played lacrosse or basketball. Take a look at the USFSA list of schools with skating programs and notice the funding made available to them. In most cases funding is nominal, on the order of $2,000 a year, the same as funding might be for the table tennis or rock climbing clubs.
@sue22 if I was an Olympic hopeful I definitely wouldn’t be looking at Colgate or even bowdoin and Wesleyan! So are you implying that even becoming a national competitor at the highest level does not boost my college app? National means top 16 in the nation!
^What I’m saying is that it will have a different impact from being a recruited athlete. There are two elements at play here. One is talent and determination, which clearly you have to have to reach the top echelon of any sport. Having demonstrated these qualities will help your application. The other is bragging rights. Will you give the college something to crow about, either by contributing to winning teams, or being someone whose accomplishments would be or have the potential to develop into something the general public would recognize? Assuming their academics fall in line the number 8 ranked tennis player in the nation will get calls from Ivy League coaches. The number 8 ranked cricket player or archer probably won’t. Because they’re club sports their coaches don’t have any pull with admissions. Athletes in non-varsity sports have to advocate a bit more for themselves because they don’t have a coach putting aside a slot for them.
@Sue22 I am pretty sure individual sports like figure skating and gymnastics are better than varsity sports, if you are above average. Because when you are in varsity, you can depend on others to win (of course you can contribute to the team, which is what people should do). Some varsity people are benched all the time, so FS is obviously more impressive than that. In FS and Gym, you have to define yourself in the sport, esp since it is hard to be at the top. I may be wrong, but thats just what I think!
@cowycam7,
I’m not speaking of talent. What I’m talking about is the impact a sport has on admissions chances. There are a lot of kids who participate in competitive varsity sports in college for whom the sport didn’t have a major impact on admission odds. Some of them were walk-ons. Some of them were recruited but weren’t high enough on the coach’s list in the end for him or her to spend a precious slots on. The files of the best varsity recruits, however, are going to go into the admissions committee meetings flagged. In most cases they will already have been reviewed for admissibility by the department.
As I said, unless you are competing at a high enough level that it provides bragging rights for the school it’s likely to be seen simply as a really strong extracurricular (as opposed to a hook) which demonstrates that you have drive, determination, and good time management skills.
You may want to drop by the athletic recruits forum here:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/athletic-recruits/
@cowycam7 Though apparently Wesleyan is the college of choice for at least one Olympic figure skater:
https://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2015/04/30/hanolympics/
^ And Michelle Kwan did her graduate degree at Tufts.
I don’t know the actual stat, but Middlebury has a stretch of producing at least one winter Olympian that goes back to include (maybe) every Winter Olympics.
@cowycam7 For what it’s worth, Bowdoin alum Joan Benoit won an Olympic Gold Medal in the woman’s marathon (1984 LA Olympics).
I think most of these schools have multiple Olympians. There’s some serious talent among the NESCACs and similar colleges!