2026 USNWR LACs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get how Reed doesn't crack this list. Isn't it widely considered more rigorous than F&M or Trinity?

"As many readers know, Reed has long stood as a holdout against the system. Appalled by a blistering article on US News in the Wall Street Journal, then-President Steve Koblik pulled Reed out of the system in 1996. US News retaliated by relegating the college to the bottom of the barrel, and has imposed a steep penalty on Reed ever since. In 2019, Reed statistics students hacked the system and estimated that the college should have been ranked at #38; its actual rank was #90. (Although US News claimed the students’ analysis was “inaccurate,” it swiftly promoted Reed to #63)."

https://www.reed.edu/reed-magazine/articles/2021/rankings-gladwell-usnews.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get how Reed doesn't crack this list. Isn't it widely considered more rigorous than F&M or Trinity?

Reed won’t send them data. They resist! We should applaud that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get how Reed doesn't crack this list. Isn't it widely considered more rigorous than F&M or Trinity?

"As many readers know, Reed has long stood as a holdout against the system. Appalled by a blistering article on US News in the Wall Street Journal, then-President Steve Koblik pulled Reed out of the system in 1996. US News retaliated by relegating the college to the bottom of the barrel, and has imposed a steep penalty on Reed ever since. In 2019, Reed statistics students hacked the system and estimated that the college should have been ranked at #38; its actual rank was #90. (Although US News claimed the students’ analysis was “inaccurate,” it swiftly promoted Reed to #63)."

https://www.reed.edu/reed-magazine/articles/2021/rankings-gladwell-usnews.html

Ah, thanks for the context. It should be top 20 for academic rigor, however. All the other data points, with the exception of undergraduate teaching and research opportunities, seem far less important.

[Anonymous]

I think this is hilarious. There is really nothing to debate or discuss about this list at all. They punked us all with their ties.

[Anonymous]

Pomona is the loser this year.

It shouldn’t matter and it won’t matter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this is hilarious. There is really nothing to debate or discuss about this list at all. They punked us all with their ties.

They established tiers, which actually makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pomona is the loser this year.

It shouldn’t matter and it won’t matter

Pomona continues to drop. B-tier school.

[Anonymous]

Instead of alphabetically, they at least could have randomly ordered amongst each of the ties to create drama and speculation..."My kid goes to a 13-c ranked LAC" posts would be fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is hilarious. There is really nothing to debate or discuss about this list at all. They punked us all with their ties.

They established tiers, which actually makes sense.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many tied at #13. Kind of random?

anything in the #13 belongs to the second tier right below t10.
Harvey Mudd seems to have a good year.

Yeah, seemed to move to tiers this year. Very clear what they are now, at least according to this list.

Yep, 4 tiers: 1-10, the 13s, the 20s, the 30s. Can't say I disagree, not that it matters that much in the end.

You idiots are so pressed to quantify your notion of elite. Tell me this, smart guy. How are you accounting for the service academies? USNA is just “better” than Bowdoin? Huge respect for Annapolis and the kids who choose that path, but those experiences and the kids who go there couldn’t be more different than the traditional SLACs. Makes the difference between W&L and a “woke” school like Haverford quaint by comparison. But you prestige whores enjoy your Super Bowl. Special shout out to the Pomona haters who have some additional ammunition now that it fell behind Bowdoin and is tied with CMC.

[Anonymous]

It's always been weird to me that people say WASP with the exclusion of Bowdoin, when Bowdoin is every bit as good as those

[Anonymous]

how does Williams stay at top year after year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:how does Williams stay at top year after year?

Practice, practice, practice

[Anonymous]

I think having the ties makes sense in some ways because those who think there is truly a lot of difference between 14 and 15 are morons. Is there a difference between 2 and 29? Probably. Between schools that are one or two notches apart. No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think having the ties makes sense in some ways because those who think there is truly a lot of difference between 14 and 15 are morons. Is there a difference between 2 and 29? Probably. Between schools that are one or two notches apart. No.

2 and the 13s already are very different.