<p>I thought this was interesting. Parchment, an education data company, has come out with their rankings of colleges based on students’ preferences or “best fit”. The methodology is obviously very different from the US News rankings and is a adaptation of the methodology used to rank international chess players. I’ve always suspected that more students who were offered admission to multiple schools picked Barnard as a top choice and this study seems to indicate just that. </p>
<p>The top 10 liberal arts colleges were:
- USAF Academy
- Pomona
- Swarthmore
- Williams
- Barnard
- US Naval Academy
- US Military Academy
- Bowdoin
- Wellesly
- Amherst </p>
<p>The “all colleges” rankings were as follows:
- Harvard
- Princeton
- Stanford
- Yale
- U Penn
- MIT
- US Airforce Academy
- Pomona
- Caltech
- Columbia
- Swarthmore
- Williams
- Brown
- Dartmouth
- Barnard.</p>
<p>Finally, Columbia University ranked 8th in national university grouping.</p>