As much as it pains me to do a rankings post, it’s the summer and well, rankings are rankings. Forbes has released its own top Colleges and Universities list. Williams, Princeton, and Amherst make up the top three, and Wesleyan falls in line at #15, right between Haverford and Whitman College. Forbes describes the idea behind its rankings as:
To our way of thinking, a good college is one that meets student needs. While other college rankings are based in large part on school reputation as evaluated by college administrators, we focus on factors that directly concern incoming students: Will my courses be interesting? Is it likely I will graduate in four years? Will I incur a ton of debt getting my degree? And once I get out of school, will I get a good job?
As always, the rankings seem fairly controversial (Cornell is at #70, John Hopkins is at #88, and NYU is all the way down at #173). To see the full list, click here; the full methodology is here.
Enjoy another way to re-live that college search process and feel good about your decision (or if it wasn’t your decision – feel good that Brown was 30 spots behind at #45). Or, you know, just ignore it all (Forbes is mainstream after all). Enjoy your last month of summer (sorry alums!).
[edit:crash]
Note that Wesleyan comes in as #7 among the liberal arts colleges in the Forbes rankings, though Forbes, unlike US News, aggregates LACs and universities.
Note that Wesleyan comes in as #7 among the liberal arts colleges in the Forbes rankings, though Forbes, unlike US News, aggregates LACs and universities.
yay
yay
We only have an 89% graduation rate? Come on people….
We only have an 89% graduation rate? Come on people….
@post#3:
Williams is indeed smaller than Wesleyan, but, no smaller than Bowdoin, Colby, Bates, Amherst or Hamilton, all of which have a lower % of varsity athletes than it.
@post#3:
Williams is indeed smaller than Wesleyan, but, no smaller than Bowdoin, Colby, Bates, Amherst or Hamilton, all of which have a lower % of varsity athletes than it.
Maybe we aren’t in the top 10 because the administration is fond of changing controversial policies as soon as the student government leaves for the summer? That sounds like the kind of thing that would negatively affect a student’s experience.
Maybe we aren’t in the top 10 because the administration is fond of changing controversial policies as soon as the student government leaves for the summer? That sounds like the kind of thing that would negatively affect a student’s experience.
you forget that Williams is almost 33% smaller than Wesleyan. of course the % of Wes students who are varsity athletes is going to be smaller. Wes and Williams have a somewhat similar # of total varsity athletes (as do the rest of the NESCAC schools), so the percentage comparison is flawed.
you forget that Williams is almost 33% smaller than Wesleyan. of course the % of Wes students who are varsity athletes is going to be smaller. Wes and Williams have a somewhat similar # of total varsity athletes (as do the rest of the NESCAC schools), so the percentage comparison is flawed.
I’d just like to add that we were #37 in last year’s ranking (2009). We’ve jumped up a whopping TWENTY-TWO ranks out of the “Top 50” Colleges. I think we can be a little happy about this one (because the admission office is going to go nuts with it anyway).
Also, it’s important to note that their not using information from this year it seems. Our admission’s rate this year was 20%, not 27% like listed. It was 27% a year or two ago.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/05/best-universities-colleges-opinions-colleges-09-top-2009_slide_38.html
I’d just like to add that we were #37 in last year’s ranking (2009). We’ve jumped up a whopping TWENTY-TWO ranks out of the “Top 50” Colleges. I think we can be a little happy about this one (because the admission office is going to go nuts with it anyway).
Also, it’s important to note that their not using information from this year it seems. Our admission’s rate this year was 20%, not 27% like listed. It was 27% a year or two ago.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/05/best-universities-colleges-opinions-colleges-09-top-2009_slide_38.html
I get a kick out of the random data behind the lists; if you double-click on each college name you get a summary put together by Forbes. Of everything listed, perhaps the most interesting from a Wes perspective are the percentage of students who are varsity athletes (that’s _varsity_ — not intramural):
Wes – ~20%
Williams – 40%
I get a kick out of the random data behind the lists; if you double-click on each college name you get a summary put together by Forbes. Of everything listed, perhaps the most interesting from a Wes perspective are the percentage of students who are varsity athletes (that’s _varsity_ — not intramural):
Wes – ~20%
Williams – 40%