Lists of the best colleges are popular among students and parents. College rankings have an undue influence on college application rates, despite the questionable value. The difference between a college ranked #10 and a college ranked #100 is minimal.
An in-state public college provides the same or even better quality education, but at a quarter to a third the cost of a private college.
Popular college rankings correlate strongly with acceptance rates and SAT and ACT admissions test … [+]
Several organizations publish rankings of the best colleges, including Kiplinger, Niche, Princeton Review, Times Higher Education, U.S. News & World Report, and Washington Monthly. Of these, U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings are the most popular.
There is not much of a difference between the most popular rankings and a limited set of narrow criteria, demonstrating that college rankings aren’t as meaningful as families might assume.
Consider lists of the most selective colleges or the colleges with the highest 75th percentile SAT or ACT test scores. These lists overlap significantly with the U.S. News and World Report rankings, demonstrating that the popular college rankings add only minimal added value.
Do you really want to base your college list on the colleges that are hardest to get into? That’s only slightly more meaningful than choosing a college based on the number of books in the college library.
College rankings are also prone to manipulation. For example, when a college goes test optional, only students with high admissions test scores submit them as part of their college admissions application. This causes an increase in the 75th percentile test scores for the college, artificially improving their ranking among the best colleges. Early decision skews the admitted student population toward a wealthier mix of students, who also happen to score well on admissions tests.
The data in this article is based on data reported by the colleges to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). It was based on 2019 data, as opposed to more recent data, since more recent data may be distorted by the pandemic. For example, many colleges went test-optional during the pandemic and some are starting to revert to pre-pandemic policies.
Selectivity, often measured by the acceptance rate, is a popularity measure.
The acceptance rate is the ratio of the number of applications accepted to the number of applications received.
Colleges that receive a greater number of applications have a lower acceptance rate. Some colleges send out aggressive promotions to solicit applications from hundreds of thousands of students, just so that they can reject them to make the college look more selective.
Ranking the top 100 colleges by selectivity, more than three quarters (78%) are ranked in the top 50 National Universities or National Liberal Arts Colleges in the U.S. News and World Report college rankings. Conversely, 78% of the top colleges in the U.S. News and World Report rankings are among the most selective colleges.
In contrast, only 19% of the top 100 colleges ranked by yield are in the top 50 National Universities or National Liberal Arts Colleges in the U.S. News and World Report college rankings. Yield is the percentage of admitted students who enroll.
This is the list of the most selective colleges. Not only does this list overlap with the U.S. News and World Report rankings, but the colleges are mostly in the same order, plus or minus a few positions.
A more end-to-end metric would calculate the ratio of the number of applications to the number of students who ultimately enroll. A higher ratio indicates a combination of a low acceptance rate and a high yield.
This list overlaps only 47% with the U.S. News and World Report top 50 lists. The order of the colleges also differs. Emory University is ranked first, with 38 applications for every seat, followed by Caltech at 36 applications per seat.
The SAT and ACT admissions tests attempt to measure the academic performance of college-bound students. So, average admissions test scores measure the quality of the student body more than they measure the quality of the college. But, then again, part of the difference between colleges lies in differences among the students more so than the value added by the college itself.
This list is based on the 75th percentile composite SAT test scores, calculated as the sum of the 75th percentile SAT math and verbal test scores.
Four-fifths (80%) of the top 100 colleges ranked by 75th percentile composite SAT test scores are in the two top 50 lists on the U.S. News and World Report college rankings.
If one were to rank colleges by the 75th percentile SAT math test scores, 80% also appear in the top U.S. News and World Report college rankings. There is also significant overlap between ranking by the 75th percentile composite SAT test scores and the 75th percentile SAT math test scores, with only 10% of the colleges appearing in one list but not the other.
A similar result occurs if one ranks by 75ht percentile ACT composite test scores, with 80% appearing in the top U.S. News and World Report college rankings.
The 25th percentile composite ACT test scores yield a similar result, with 81% appearing in the top U.S. News and World Report college rankings. Only 8% of the colleges appear in only one of the rankings by the 25th and 75th percentile test scores.
Although there’s a lot of overlap the set of colleges included in rankings by SAT composite and SAT math test scores, the order does differ. This list, which is ranked by SAT math test scores, lists colleges known for tech whizzes at the top.