There are many factors that go into evaluating and “ranking” schools. Test scores and acceptance rates are two factors, but really they are small pieces of the puzzle. People tend to focus on them because they are very transparent and easily translated to ‘bragging’ rights. They also can be easily manipulated by schools and really don’t tell you much about educational quality. But if you use those 2 factors alone, yes Colgate and Lehigh are similar. If you add in other factors then Colgate pulls ahead. But really ‘rank’ should not factor into the OPs decision. It needs to be more about fit.
Re #19, those ACT ranges account for admitted students. For simple analyses for attending students, these sources include all of the OP’s choices:
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9
http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/college-profiles-new-sat/
The below has been updated for the most recent year available, but includes only the top 51 schools:
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-50-smartest-colleges-in-america-2016-10
However, undergraduate colleges without structured pre-professional programs tend to be disproportionately represented in highly regarded professionally-oriented graduate schools:
https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/infographics/top-feeders-mba-programs
@merc81 “However, undergraduate colleges without structured pre-professional programs tend to be disproportionately represented in highly regarded professionally-oriented graduate schools:”
True. They have to go to grad school because they can’t get a good job with their undergraduate degree. The incremental benefit of graduate school is much higher for them.
In the above analysis (link, #22) the majority of the twenty schools are either Ivies, NESCACs or Claremonts, colleges which in fact do not typically offer structured business majors. However, graduates from these schools would not commonly be regarded as unemployable as a class.