Top 5 Liberal Arts Colleges

<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:

  1. USAF Academy
  2. Pomona
  3. Swarthmore
  4. Williams
  5. Barnard
  6. US Naval Academy
  7. US Military Academy
  8. Bowdoin
  9. Wellesly
  10. Amherst </p>

<p>The “all colleges” rankings were as follows:

  1. Harvard
  2. Princeton
  3. Stanford
  4. Yale
  5. U Penn
  6. MIT
  7. US Airforce Academy
  8. Pomona
  9. Caltech
  10. Columbia
  11. Swarthmore
  12. Williams
  13. Brown
  14. Dartmouth
  15. Barnard.</p>

<p>Finally, Columbia University ranked 8th in national university grouping.</p>

<p>Thanks for sharing – I think that actually comes a lot closer to reflecting the reality of how these colleges compare, with the exception of the military academies, which really belong in a class by themselves.</p>