Intellect | Beyond College Rankings

Intellect


Rankings
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This ranking attempts an impossible task – to order schools based on proxies targeting the intellectual capabilities of their students.

  1. 1. Yale University
  2. 2. Swarthmore College
  3. 3. Williams College
  4. 4. Harvard University
  5. 5. Princeton University
  6. 6. University of Chicago
  7. 7. Amherst College
  8. 8. Pomona College
  9. 9. Brown University
  10. 10. Duke University
  11. 11. Columbia University
  12. 12. Stanford University
  13. 13. Vassar College
  14. 14. Northwestern University
  15. 15. Wellesley College
  16. 16. Washington University in St. Louis
  17. 17. Cornell University
  18. 18. Grinnell College
  19. 19. Dartmouth College
  20. 20. Wesleyan University
  21. 21. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  22. 22. Johns Hopkins University
  23. 23. Bryn Mawr College
  24. 24. Middlebury College
  25. 25. Carleton College
  26. 26. Georgetown University
  27. 27. Macalester College
  28. 28. Emory University
  29. 29. California Institute of Technology
  30. 30. Haverford College
  31. 31. University of Pennsylvania
  32. 32. Claremont McKenna College
  33. 33. Bates College
  34. 34. Colby College
  35. 35. Rice University
  36. 36. University of Notre Dame
  37. 37. University of California – Berkeley
  38. 38. Kenyon College
  39. 39. University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
  40. 40. Bowdoin College
  41. 41. Tufts University
  42. 42. College of William and Mary
  43. 43. Barnard College
  44. 44. Whitman College
  45. 45. University of Virginia – Charlottesville
  46. 46. Brandeis University
  47. 47. Hamilton College
  48. 48. Smith College
  49. 49. Harvey Mudd College
  50. 50. Boston College
  51. 51. Oberlin College
  52. 52. Connecticut College
  53. 53. Colgate University
  54. 54. Reed College
  55. 55. Vanderbilt University
  56. 56. Davidson College
  57. 57. St. Olaf College
  58. 58. Case Western Reserve University
  59. 59. Occidental College
  60. 60. College of the Holy Cross
  61. 61. New College of Florida
  62. 62. Scripps College
  63. 63. Knox College
  64. 64. Mount Holyoke College
  65. 65. Carnegie Mellon University
  66. 66. Villanova University
  67. 67. University of California – Los Angeles
  68. 68. University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
  69. 69. University of Rochester
  70. 70. Washington and Lee University
  71. 71. Colorado College
  72. 72. University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign
  73. 73. Lafayette College
  74. 74. Wake Forest University
  75. 75. University of Wisconsin – Madison
  76. 76. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  77. 77. Agnes Scott College
  78. 78. St. John’s College (MD)
  79. 79. Furman University
  80. 80. Bucknell University
  81. 81. Wheaton College (IL)
  82. 82. Earlham College
  83. 83. Pitzer College
  84. 84. Kalamazoo College
  85. 85. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
  86. 86. George Washington University
  87. 87. Lehigh University
  88. 88. Boston University
  89. 89. Trinity College
  90. 90. University of Texas – Austin
  91. 91. Lawrence University
  92. 92. Rhodes College
  93. 93. University of Maryland – College Park
  94. 94. University of Florida – Gainesville
  95. 95. Spelman College
  96. 96. University of Southern California
  97. 97. University of Pittsburgh
  98. 98. Lewis and Clark College
  99. 99. University of California – San Diego
  100. 100. Allegheny College

Methodology: I made this ranking in November of 2012, highlighting several elements that I personally would pick as most important for me in a college, without touching any contextual elements. This ranking combines  A) a pure ranking of schools based on the 75% SAT score of admitted students, B) Lumosity’s Smartest Colleges Ranking, C) Washington Monthly’s rank of Bachelor’s to PhD, D) a pure ranking of schools’ four-year graduation rate, E) the 2003 Wall Street Journal Feeder School rank, and F) the 2012 Fulbright Ranking.

Their assigned weights are:

A – 16.7%

B – 4.2%

C – 33.3%

D – 12.5%

E – 16.7%

F – 16.7%

For me, the highest achieving students in high school have the best grades, test scores, essays, activities, accomplishments, and recommendation letters. Since test scores are the only standardized element of that list, enabling easy comparison, they are given solid weight. I used the 75% score as exemplary of the score a non “hooked” student (someone who is not a recruited athlete, world-class oboist, daughter of Saudi oil baron, etc.) would ideally target for admission. Note: of that list above (grades, tests, essays, activities, accomplishments, and recommendation letters), I definitely think that SAT scores are the least indicative of talent. Such is the world of rankings.

I like the testing for smartness of Lumosity’s ranking and it fit with what I was going for. I gave it little weight though, as many schools were not included in the ranking, and I assume they didn’t participate.

For me, the truest testament to intellectual vitality at a school is the percentage of students who pursue the highest level of education in their field, and Washington Monthly’s ranking of BA or BS to PhD is the metric that best gauges this. Hence, I accorded it a full third of the weight.

I included the graduation rate as a small gesture to students’ ambition and happiness at a school, as well as a hint about the support of the administration. If students graduate in four years, they obviously didn’t transfer or drop out, and were able to take the classes they needed to graduate.

I gave the Wall Street Journal Feeder School ranking and the Fulbright Ranking equal weight. The former is a proxy for selectivity and practical ambition, and the latter is a proxy for theoretical ambition. Neither is as concrete and advanced as the BA/BS to PhD metric, but both are indicative of a highly ambitious, smart environment.

As with all rankings, there are numerous problems and biases here. I’d be surprised if someone didn’t look at this ranking and wonder how M.I.T. and Caltech are ranked as “low” as they are. This is mostly due to the weight accorded the Fulbright ranking. Neither M.I.T.’s or Caltech’s strengths fall in line with the mission and purpose of Fulbright awards, and thus these (and other vocational-focused – engineering and business – schools) have very weak scores in a category given strong weight. For those interested, if you remove the Fulbright category, M.I.T. and Caltech rank 6th and 14th respectively.

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