The idea is that larger schools will naturally acquire more influence, and thus rank more highly, simply in virtue of their size.
Note also that Caltech rises to the top of the best overall ranking because of its enormous influence in relation to its very small size for a research university (its undergraduate body is less than 1,000).
[6] Universities are ranked by several indicators of academic or research performance, including alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, highly cited researchers, papers published in Nature and Science, papers indexed in major citation indices, and the per capita academic performance of an institution.
Return on Investment divides the total net price of attending a college by the graduate premium received by alumni.
Academic success measures the number of recent graduates who have gone on to win Fulbright, Truman, Goldwater and Rhodes scholarships.
1 spot, with elite liberal arts schools Williams and Pomona College topping the rankings in the intervening years.
[22] The Princeton Review annually asks students and parents what their dream college is, if cost and ability to get in were not factors.
Several entities have attempted to rank the desirability of U.S. colleges and universities by analyzing datasets of the enrollment decisions of students admitted to multiple institutions, applying choice modelling to their revealed preferences.
[23] Since 2009, the digital credential service Parchment has published an annual revealed preference ranking using its own data.
The rankings were created in response to the finding in Science magazine which showed that among developed nations, the United States now provides the least economic opportunity and mobility for its citizens.
The methodology is based on data such as research publications, citations, recognitions and funding, as well as undergraduate quality such as SAT scores.
[40] The Wall Street Journal together with Times Higher Education together release an annual ranking of U.S. colleges and universities.
[45] In 2009, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) began grading colleges and universities based on the strength of their general education requirements.
The seven subjects are composition, mathematics, foreign language, science, economics, literature and American government or history.
[48] ACTA's rating system has been endorsed by Mel Elfin, founding editor of U.S. News & World Report's rankings.
Using data from the College Scorecard, researchers at Georgetown University calculated the return on investment, taking into account the cost of an institution vs. observed increase in earnings among attendees (including those who did and did not graduate with a diploma).
Many specialized rankings are available in guidebooks, considering individual student interests, fields of study, geographical location, and affordability.
Notably, practitioners of continental philosophy, who perceive the Leiter report as unfair to their field, have compiled alternative rankings.
"[55] Global Language Monitor produces a "TrendTopper MediaBuzz" ranking of the Top 300 United States colleges and universities semi-annually.
It uses the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching's classifications to distinguish between universities and liberal arts colleges.
[58][59][60][61] The Global Language Monitor also sells the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Reputation Management solution[buzzword] for higher education for which "colleges and universities can enhance their standings among peers".
[65] American college and university ranking systems have drawn criticism from within and outside higher education in Canada and the United States.
As a result, "a majority of the approximately 80 presidents at the meeting said that they did not intend to participate in the U.S. News reputational rankings in the future.
U.S. News & World Report editor Robert Morse issued a response on 22 June 2007, stating:"in terms of the peer assessment survey, we at U.S. News firmly believe the survey has significant value because it allows us to measure the "intangibles" of a college that we can't measure through statistical data.
The peer survey is by nature subjective, but the technique of asking industry leaders to rate their competitors is a commonly accepted practice.
I infer that, in each case, the formulas were simply changed, with notification to no one, not even your readers, who are left to assume that some schools have suddenly soared, others precipitously plummeted.