Grinnell ranking drops by 8 places

[Anonymous]

Grinnell College is a wealthy school, therefore, it will always be ranked high.

[Anonymous]

Who on earth cares? These rankings are so manipulative (and easily manipulated)!

[Anonymous]

Putting aside the inherent problems and silliness of the rankings, it seems like the LACs in the 10 to 20-ish range are particularly susceptible to multi-school ties and large reshufflings. Grinnell and Middlebury went from 11 to 19. Smith went from 11 to 16 to 14 in the past three years. And so on. Even if you believe such rankings are gospel, I think it's fair to conclude that the LACs in this general band are extremely similar and not really amenable to a rigid ranking scheme. Thus even tiny changes to USNWR's methodology cause a lot of reshuffling.

Of course, as an evergreen reminder, these colleges, their students, or the educational experiences they offer do not materially change from year to year. Grinnell is the same school in 2024 ranked #19 as it was last year ranked #11.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Putting aside the inherent problems and silliness of the rankings, it seems like the LACs in the 10 to 20-ish range are particularly susceptible to multi-school ties and large reshufflings. Grinnell and Middlebury went from 11 to 19. Smith went from 11 to 16 to 14 in the past three years. And so on. Even if you believe such rankings are gospel, I think it's fair to conclude that the LACs in this general band are extremely similar and not really amenable to a rigid ranking scheme. Thus even tiny changes to USNWR's methodology cause a lot of reshuffling.

Of course, as an evergreen reminder, these colleges, their students, or the educational experiences they offer do not materially change from year to year. Grinnell is the same school in 2024 ranked #19 as it was last year ranked #11.

They’re attempting to break the tier between WASP and the rest, which is not reasonable as those are the colleges that are very very high caliber and above the other LACs.

[Anonymous]

I don't really follow SLACs, but there is nothing different about Grinnell to justify a drop from 11 to 19. US News seems to really penalize wealthy private schools that give out exceptionally good financial aid - which I gather describes Grinnell. The ranking methodolgy prioritizes federal aid, particularly Pell Grants, and first generation students. And doesn't include class size, years to graduate, qualifications of professors, percentage of alumni that donate, and all the other things that generally give a better indication of the overall college experience for students. None of those things are measured anymore.

Chasing a US News ranking has become a pointless game for most colleges. US News is basically an advocacy group now. They aren't even trying to measure the "best colleges and universities" anymore. For the vast majority of families these days, US News isn't that useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't really follow SLACs, but there is nothing different about Grinnell to justify a drop from 11 to 19. US News seems to really penalize wealthy private schools that give out exceptionally good financial aid - which I gather describes Grinnell. The ranking methodolgy prioritizes federal aid, particularly Pell Grants, and first generation students. And doesn't include class size, years to graduate, qualifications of professors, percentage of alumni that donate, and all the other things that generally give a better indication of the overall college experience for students. None of those things are measured anymore.

Chasing a US News ranking has become a pointless game for most colleges. US News is basically an advocacy group now. They aren't even trying to measure the "best colleges and universities" anymore. For the vast majority of families these days, US News isn't that useful.

Before US News started rating & ranking colleges in the 1980s, college selection was a mess. High school counselors touted schools that the counselor had developed friendly relations rather than basing recommendations on facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been impressed by every Grinnell graduate I’ve met, and will no doubt continue to be.

I know two Grinnell graduates, and they are both mad as march hares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't really follow SLACs, but there is nothing different about Grinnell to justify a drop from 11 to 19. US News seems to really penalize wealthy private schools that give out exceptionally good financial aid - which I gather describes Grinnell

This is the entire lac list. Seems like an excuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
https://thesandb.com/48353/article/grinnell-college-ranking-us-news-liberal-arts/

Grinnell College has dropped eight places in the U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of Best National Liberal Arts Colleges in 2025. The report ranked the College nineteenth, whereas last year’s report ranked Grinnell eleventh in the category.

Now.. they along with Oberlin will crib that ranking doesn't matter

Wow, and here I thought the 9-11 attacks were a blow to our national psyche. But this…THIS…😳

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
https://thesandb.com/48353/article/grinnell-college-ranking-us-news-liberal-arts/

Grinnell College has dropped eight places in the U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of Best National Liberal Arts Colleges in 2025. The report ranked the College nineteenth, whereas last year’s report ranked Grinnell eleventh in the category.

Now.. they along with Oberlin will crib that ranking doesn't matter

Do these rankings mean that much? They change methodologies and priorities so often that they seem so meaningless now? They'll probably many more times before your kid graduates too.

From my understanding, USNWR starting prioritizing "social mobility" as a major factor. So if a college has a lot of 1st gen students who have huge percentage change in upward mobility that is considered better than having a lot of kids who are already in a good place stay where they are.

I think these factors and priorities will keep changing with trends so it's best to read them but not really put all your weight on it. It doesn't help my kid from deteriming "best fit" at all since they care about a set of factors that USNWR doesn't necessarily prioritize in their rankings (good teachers, mentors, engaging classes, motivated but relaxed peer group, distance from home, etc.).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been impressed by every Grinnell graduate I’ve met, and will no doubt continue to be.

I know two Grinnell graduates, and they are both mad as march hares.

My experience was exactly the opposite. I found them calm, stable, and highly intelligent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
https://thesandb.com/48353/article/grinnell-college-ranking-us-news-liberal-arts/

Grinnell College has dropped eight places in the U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of Best National Liberal Arts Colleges in 2025. The report ranked the College nineteenth, whereas last year’s report ranked Grinnell eleventh in the category.

Now.. they along with Oberlin will crib that ranking doesn't matter

What's a Grinnell?

It's a college in Iowa where nearly everyone is smart enough to know how to use google.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
https://thesandb.com/48353/article/grinnell-college-ranking-us-news-liberal-arts/

Grinnell College has dropped eight places in the U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of Best National Liberal Arts Colleges in 2025. The report ranked the College nineteenth, whereas last year’s report ranked Grinnell eleventh in the category.

Now.. they along with Oberlin will crib that ranking doesn't matter

Do these rankings mean that much? They change methodologies and priorities so often that they seem so meaningless now? They'll probably many more times before your kid graduates too.

From my understanding, USNWR starting prioritizing "social mobility" as a major factor. So if a college has a lot of 1st gen students who have huge percentage change in upward mobility that is considered better than having a lot of kids who are already in a good place stay where they are.

I think these factors and priorities will keep changing with trends so it's best to read them but not really put all your weight on it. It doesn't help my kid from deteriming "best fit" at all since they care about a set of factors that USNWR doesn't necessarily prioritize in their rankings (good teachers, mentors, engaging classes, motivated but relaxed peer group, distance from home, etc.).

You should read the actual methodology before commenting on things you hardly understand.

[Anonymous]

US News is the only place anyone looks for how good a school is.

In fact, my child is applying to UC Merced, which is basically one of the Top 50 schools in the entire country according to US News..

Now Merced has an acceptance rate of 90% and a yield rate of 9%, and the last time SAT's were reported, it had 25% of their students scoring below a 990. It's SAT average was 1080.

But everyone knows the data lies and US News speaks truth to power.

So we are all in on UC Merced. GO BOBCATS!!! It is Stanford's new rival!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:US News is the only place anyone looks for how good a school is.

In fact, my child is applying to UC Merced, which is basically one of the Top 50 schools in the entire country according to US News..

Now Merced has an acceptance rate of 90% and a yield rate of 9%, and the last time SAT's were reported, it had 25% of their students scoring below a 990. It's SAT average was 1080.

But everyone knows the data lies and US News speaks truth to power.

So we are all in on UC Merced. GO BOBCATS!!! It is Stanford's new rival!

No one in California wants to go to Merced- it’s a trash town with nothing to do and the school is very low quality. US news boosts them out of pity for public universities. The only public university worth its salt against the top private universities is Berkeley, relnown in almost every academic subject. Every other Uc and public university is way over ranked