They keep on comin’. In the past couple of weeks, we’ve been flooded with college rankings coming out. They mean so little yet so much. The Princeton Review and Forbes might have their rankings, but the most popular ones, from the U.S. News and World Report have arrived.
We come in 12th, tied with Vassar, in the Liberal Arts Rankings. The U.S. News & World Report rankings reflect more recent admissions statistics than Forbes used, such as our acceptance rate being 22% (that’s us 2013). We ranked #13 last year in the 2010 rankings, going up a spot this year. Read the page about Wesleyan there to see what they made of us and our several “sororities on campus.” It’s quite a unique portrayal of student life at Wesleyan.
On the list of Best Values for Liberal Arts Colleges we ranked #20, with almost 15% more students at #1 value Amherst receiving need-based aid. The average discount from total cost at Amherst was also almost 15% higher than at Wes.
Our Little Three comrades Williams and Amherst topped the Liberal Arts list as #1 and #2 respectively. Along with Middlebury and Bowdoin, they were the four NESCAC schools that ranked higher than us.
Here’s what the admissions office can learn from Williams and Amherst in it’s quest to top them:
- Move to Massachusetts.
- Rename the town after us.
Speaking of MA, Harvard topped the National list to claim #1 for itself (and only itself) this year.
UPDATE: A lot of people think the rankings are unimportant, but seemingly not the school (or at least the Facebook page administrator). They published a Facebook update today with our Forbes ranking.
“Here’s what the admissions office can learn from Williams and Amherst in it’s [sic] quest to top them:”
1) Graduates of Williams and Amherst know when to use the possessive form of “it.”
they conveniently don’t mention Michael Bay directed “Transformers”
they conveniently don’t mention Michael Bay directed “Transformers”
*Coach Fahey.
*Coach Fahey.
Wesleyan has occupied the same rank in the USNews poll pretty steadily for the last ten years, and the only discernible difference I’ve noticed is that it has narrowed the selectivity gap with Williams to within 2 percentage points.
The poll is designed to punish outliers; we know that. A school’s rank is basically a reflection of how different it is from “the model school” at the top of the list which according to a widely accepted rumor was always supposed to be Harvard, in the earliest versions of the poll.
Dartmouth and Brown aren’t particularly well known for their graduate programs and thus, place well below Harvard on the National Research University poll. While on the National Liberal Arts College side, Wesleyan is not particularly well known for the amount of money it spends on assistant coaches (well, we’ll see what Coach Sheehy says about that) and other redundancies that can boost a NESCAC college’s spending per student.
Discerning applicants (i.e., the more intelligent ones) realize these differences and make adjustments in their perceptions. It may also explain why Dartmouth, and Brown have remained within a few percentage points of Harvard (and Wesleyan with respect to Williams) in popularity, despite being laggards in their respective categories of the poll. People, over the years, have learned to take USNews with a heavy grain of salt.
Wesleyan has occupied the same rank in the USNews poll pretty steadily for the last ten years, and the only discernible difference I’ve noticed is that it has narrowed the selectivity gap with Williams to within 2 percentage points.
The poll is designed to punish outliers; we know that. A school’s rank is basically a reflection of how different it is from “the model school” at the top of the list which according to a widely accepted rumor was always supposed to be Harvard, in the earliest versions of the poll.
Dartmouth and Brown aren’t particularly well known for their graduate programs and thus, place well below Harvard on the National Research University poll. While on the National Liberal Arts College side, Wesleyan is not particularly well known for the amount of money it spends on assistant coaches (well, we’ll see what Coach Sheehy says about that) and other redundancies that can boost a NESCAC college’s spending per student.
Discerning applicants (i.e., the more intelligent ones) realize these differences and make adjustments in their perceptions. It may also explain why Dartmouth, and Brown have remained within a few percentage points of Harvard (and Wesleyan with respect to Williams) in popularity, despite being laggards in their respective categories of the poll. People, over the years, have learned to take USNews with a heavy grain of salt.
brown isn’t even on there
brown isn’t even on there
i think the “selectivity” portion is probably the most important. basically, how pretentious can we act now?
i think the “selectivity” portion is probably the most important. basically, how pretentious can we act now?
Almost everyone looks at the rankings. Yeah, some people are going to say (some pretend) that they didn’t care when they were applying, but when it comes down to it these rankings and the people they attract can come to define our school for years to come, whether you like it or not.
Almost everyone looks at the rankings. Yeah, some people are going to say (some pretend) that they didn’t care when they were applying, but when it comes down to it these rankings and the people they attract can come to define our school for years to come, whether you like it or not.
no big deal but we’re rated higher than brown. just saying.
no big deal but we’re rated higher than brown. just saying.
Money and size are the only thing holding Wes back from being much higher in the rankings. We get hurt from faculty resource ranking and financial resource ranking, and because endowment per student is used (undergrad plus grad, most other liberal arts colleges dont have grad programs, and hence a larger denominator) we get hurt from that, also % of classes >50 students, we have more of. all a function of us being bigger than our peer schools.
we tied Amherst and Bowdoin in guidance counselor assessment, and beat Middlebury
Money and size are the only thing holding Wes back from being much higher in the rankings. We get hurt from faculty resource ranking and financial resource ranking, and because endowment per student is used (undergrad plus grad, most other liberal arts colleges dont have grad programs, and hence a larger denominator) we get hurt from that, also % of classes >50 students, we have more of. all a function of us being bigger than our peer schools.
we tied Amherst and Bowdoin in guidance counselor assessment, and beat Middlebury
@#2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Grapes
@#2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Grapes
to #2: um, most college seniors look at these rankings. while meaningless in and of themselves, they are important because of the weight given to them by prospective students.
to #2: um, most college seniors look at these rankings. while meaningless in and of themselves, they are important because of the weight given to them by prospective students.
Amherst isn’t ranked for “best undergraduate teaching” either. I think that category has a pretty flawed system.
Amherst isn’t ranked for “best undergraduate teaching” either. I think that category has a pretty flawed system.
They mean so little yet so much?
no they mean so little– please stop posting rankings. all that matters is that wesleyan is a top school- doesn’t make much of a difference if we are 6th or 12th or 18th.
They mean so little yet so much?
no they mean so little– please stop posting rankings. all that matters is that wesleyan is a top school- doesn’t make much of a difference if we are 6th or 12th or 18th.
we’re not even ranked for the “best undergraduate teaching” category. why am i not surprised.
we’re not even ranked for the “best undergraduate teaching” category. why am i not surprised.