Liberal Arts College Ranking

Liberal Arts College Ranking September 14, 2012 In the college admissions community, its always an exciting time when the US News World Report college rankings come out. If youre an admissions counselor at, say, the University of Pennsylvania, youre curious to know if you rose this year, if you fell, or if you stayed the same. But the vast majority of time in the vast majority of cases, the rankings change only ever so slightly each year. Rare is it when a college rises or drops dramatically. It happens, sure, but not often. Its the exception to the rule. Not the rule. The rankings of liberal arts colleges as well as national universities rarely rise or fall dramatically from year to year in US News World Report. To show you how the rankings dont change that significantly from year to year, we thought wed compare this years liberal arts college ranking to last years liberal arts college ranking. In 2012, Williams College placed first. In 2011, Williams College also placed first. In 2012, Amherst College placed second. In 2011, Amherst College also placed second. In 2012, Swarthmore College placed third. In 2011, the same was true. In 2012, Middlebury College and Pomona College tied for fourth. In 2011, Middlbury and Wellseley tied for fourth (ok, a slight change). In 2012, Bowdoin College and Wellesley College tied for sixth. In 2011, Bowdoin and Pomona College tied for sixth. So you can see that even Pomona which rose in the rankings this year didnt rise dramatically. The school rose a slot. In 2012, Carleton College placed eighth, just as the school did in 2011. Anyway, you get the idea. Schools rarely rise or drop dramatically in college rankings. There are certainly some changes from year to year. As an example, remember the days when Caltech topped the national university rankings? Its not like theyve fallen off the map now. Caltech, after all, is one of the finest schools in the nation. But theyre no longer ranked first in US News World Report. Times change and so, too, does the college ranking algorithm. While youre here, check out this newsletter on college rankings.