Committed to Amherst and I know one needs to take ranking lists with a grain of salt, but please explain to me why Williams is consistently ranked higher…and I don’t mean just USNews and Forbes…I mean every list I read. Please Williams folks- don’t respond with snarky comments…I’m really looking for the truth here. Lastly, and this was never answered on another thread, why are there more men admitted to Amherst versus women. I know we are just talking 75 people or so, but still- it seems strange in an era where more women are applying and at most schools more women are being accepted. Thanks in advance for thoughtful commentary on the subject. Please provide links if you have conflicting data! Thanks again.
Amherst’s last 4 Common Data Sets show more women than men admitted and slightly more women enrolled.
https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/facts/common_data_sets/-new-page-
I thought your question was worth poking into as I have wondered as well how the rankings all relate to each other.
I know you said not just US News and Forbes… but looking at how these 2 rank is a good start. At first blush, what seems interesting is how different these two systems look and where they get their data - but I am not particularly qualified to analyze this. Obvious is how US News relies heavily on subjective reputation where Forbes does not include this.
It would be cool to have the raw data from each college handy so that you could play with the numbers. Until that data is easily available to the public, it will be a crap shoot to figure out why Williams is ahead of Amherst.
If you wanted to get more specific regarding which lists you are looking at (instead of “every list”), perhaps we can get a better sense.
US News
Undergraduate academic reputation (22.5%)
- Peer assessment survey (15%)
- High school counselors’ ratings (7.5%)
Student selectivity for the fall 2013 entering class (12.5%) - Acceptance rate (1.25%)
- High school class standing in top 10% (3.125%)
- High school class standing in top 25% (0%)
- SAT/ACT Critical Reading and Math Scores (8.125%
Faculty resources for 2013-2014 academic year (20%) - Faculty compensation (7%)
- Percent faculty with terminal degree in their field (3%)
- Percent faculty that is full time (1%)
- Student-faculty ratio (1%)
- Class size, 1-19 students (6%)
- Class size, 50+ students (2%)
Graduation and retention rates (22.5%) - Average graduation rate (18%)
- Average freshman retention rate (4.5%)
Financial resources (10%)
Alumni giving (5%)
Graduation rate performance (7.5%)
Forbes
Student Satisfaction (25%)
- RateMyProfessor (10%)
- Actual freshman retention rates (12.5%)
- Predicted freshman- retention rates (2.5%)
Post-Graduate Success (32.5%) - Payscale.com (10%)
- America’s Leaders List (22.5%)
Student Debt (25%) - Average federal student loan debt load (10%)
- Student loan default rates (12.5%)
- Predicted vs. actual % of students taking federal loans (2.5%)
Graduation Rate (7.5%) - Actual graduation rate (5%)
- Actual vs. predicted rate (2.5%)
Academic Success (10%) - Prestigious scholarships and fellowships (7.5%)
- Ph.D (2.5%)
Thank you for both posts!
You realize that the difference between the two in these rankings is truly insignificant. Apart from the fact that any ranking system is imperfect, the difference between the top 10 (maybe even more!) or so is all fluctuations.
I agree with the above. When I started first looking at colleges, Amherst was ranked above Williams. It really is just fluctuations and the ranking companies’ desire to keep things new and interesting, rather than significant changes to the quality of education itself
Rankings in their current form do a disservice to the whole industry. But the data behind it would be useful if we could get to it. A single number ranking is absurd, but with the data used for each of the categories, I would be able to weight them as they apply to my personal situation and values. I won’t hold my breath that this will be available any time soon, but when the colleges get sufficiently fed up with the rankings industry (and Obama’s proposed new ranking system), perhaps something will change.
Maybe this kind of ranking would be more useful: http://diycollegerankings.com/
which has a link to some data about Mass colleges including the two discussed here: http://diycollegerankings.com/help-me-find-a-college-massachusetts/1818/
Hence why Williams is rated higher, lol? I know you’re replying to a question in the post, that just struck me as a humorously situated reply.