School you pumped (or bashed) vs USNWR

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kenyon and Dickinson get pumped by private high school parents but both are ranked 45th in 2026. No momentum for them. Colgate and Haverford have declined in recent past. Holy Cross inching up each year now 27th. And Bucknell will it’s magical Pipeline to The Street is now 30.

Yea Denison too.

There was a post a while ago when some idiot was arguing that Kenyon and Denison were as good as Grinnell which is just nuts. Kenyon is the definition of a back up school for kids rejected from the northeast liberal arts colleges.

I get Dickinson, Davidson and Denison confused. I have 2 friends who each have a kid at one of them and I still can’t keep them straight. lol

[Anonymous]

Gave up on even looking at USNWR when a few years ago they removed consideration for class size. Basically bumping up all large state Universities and moving the smaller private schools way down.

I'll take my kids sitting in classes with only 40-50 kids anyday over 200-300+ classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Feels like this year's ranking is very similar to last year's. Someone should compute the average change in rank (rise and drop both treated as positive) for last year's t50 schools. My guess is the average is less than 3. Repeat this for last year's t100 and my guess is the average is less than 5.

Where TF have you been??? It is always the same. Very little change. I’ve been watching these ratings since the 90s. The only change was when some schools—NE, UChic., etc started driving up applicants and plating the mailing and ED game, test optional to appear more selective.

I mean what, you think Harvard and Princeton will drop out of the T10?

Selectivity has nothing to do with the rankings. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings

It highly correlates with the peer surveys, so it indirectly still does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gave up on even looking at USNWR when a few years ago they removed consideration for class size. Basically bumping up all large state Universities and moving the smaller private schools way down.

I'll take my kids sitting in classes with only 40-50 kids anyday over 200-300+ classes.

We researched class size through the school's common data set. Some detailed information there. Public schools also have a 'sink or swim' approach where a smaller private school may be more individually attentive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Feels like this year's ranking is very similar to last year's. Someone should compute the average change in rank (rise and drop both treated as positive) for last year's t50 schools. My guess is the average is less than 3. Repeat this for last year's t100 and my guess is the average is less than 5.

Where TF have you been??? It is always the same. Very little change. I’ve been watching these ratings since the 90s. The only change was when some schools—NE, UChic., etc started driving up applicants and plating the mailing and ED game, test optional to appear more selective.

I mean what, you think Harvard and Princeton will drop out of the T10?

Selectivity has nothing to do with the rankings. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings

It highly correlates with the peer surveys, so it indirectly still does.

Correlation is not causality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kenyon and Dickinson get pumped by private high school parents but both are ranked 45th in 2026. No momentum for them. Colgate and Haverford have declined in recent past. Holy Cross inching up each year now 27th. And Bucknell will it’s magical Pipeline to The Street is now 30.

Yea Denison too.

There was a post a while ago when some idiot was arguing that Kenyon and Denison were as good as Grinnell which is just nuts. Kenyon is the definition of a back up school for kids rejected from the northeast liberal arts colleges.

I get Dickinson, Davidson and Denison confused. I have 2 friends who each have a kid at one of them and I still can’t keep them straight. lol

Okkaaay. So you are saying you have a bad memory. So what?

[Anonymous]

Chapman bumped up 11 spots. They keep getting better and better. My DC loves it there.

[Anonymous]

Tulane and Miami don’t match the hype. FSU now is ranked better.

[Anonymous]

William and Mary moved up a bit which I like to see. It also is the highest ranked public under 10,000 students. Makes it a great choice for students who like a smaller school. Especially for those lucky Virginians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:William and Mary moved up a bit which I like to see. It also is the highest ranked public under 10,000 students. Makes it a great choice for students who like a smaller school. Especially for those lucky Virginians.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:William and Mary moved up a bit which I like to see. It also is the highest ranked public under 10,000 students. Makes it a great choice for students who like a smaller school. Especially for those lucky Virginians.

I wish more states could have comparable public options like this one. It’s too rare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t pump or bash it but genuinely puzzled why Haverford seems to be falling. DC1 liked it a lot but wound up elsewhere; nice campus, access to Philly, great pre-med outcomes. Is it because of budgets?

I am also puzzled by this. In addition to all the things you noted, their endowment has increased to more than 700 million, the 2025 Fitch rating is AA, applications have increased over the past few years, and the acceptance rate is around 12-13%. It's a great school--my DC has been very happy there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chapman bumped up 11 spots. They keep getting better and better. My DC loves it there.

Very popular choice for very good but not tippy top kids from our school. Everyone who goes there loves it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Feels like this year's ranking is very similar to last year's. Someone should compute the average change in rank (rise and drop both treated as positive) for last year's t50 schools. My guess is the average is less than 3. Repeat this for last year's t100 and my guess is the average is less than 5.

Where TF have you been??? It is always the same. Very little change. I’ve been watching these ratings since the 90s. The only change was when some schools—NE, UChic., etc started driving up applicants and plating the mailing and ED game, test optional to appear more selective.

I mean what, you think Harvard and Princeton will drop out of the T10?

ED game was invented by UPenn and Ivies back in the days.
Applicants apply and commit for reasons.

Yet it’s Hopkins, Tufts, NE, Vandy etc that have two rounds of ED. ED1 & ED2–those are the true gamers - test optional (though Hopkins finally reverted)

hopkins takes none through waitlists compared to several ivies and has no legacy admissions like MIT. It might be more transparent than some of the ivies like columbia and waitlist that waitlist accept a bunch

[Anonymous]

Williams family and as always number 1!