2026 US News College Rankings

[Anonymous]

Middlebury may shut its doors soon enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be back to 2020 IMO( released fall 2019)

The major difference between 2018/2020 is Columbia. I don’t think it can be #3.

2018 list makes a lot of sense, it’s the one I keep using for closer-to-real ranking.

Their 2018 liberal arts college ranking also makes sense. Each school is more or less at their right place +- 3.

+1

This was the last year of rankings based mostly on meaningful factors.

Someone mentioned Middlebury’s ranking drop above. The drop was driven by the addition socioeconomic factors and then last time around by changes in how FTE were computed which artificially dropped their academic spending number. Someone on CC broke the whole thing down last year when it happened. It hit another school hard as well, maybe W&L?

So why didn't it affect Middlebury's peers the same way? Sounds like a bunch of excuses for Middlebury's smaller financial resources, over enrollment issues, and ballooning deficit. Its budget issues have been outlined by the college itself as an outlier. DEI is not why Middlebury has precipitously dropped.

You're back. I remember a thread a little bit ago where someone dismantled you and your nonsense. Hopefully they will arrive to do it once again but I do remember the gist.

They overenrolled one year and then the poster showed the return to norm.
They don't have a ballooning deficit, they do have an ongoing deficit because of Monterey.
Grinnell suffered the exact same drop and Wesleyan dropped as well.

We know that you have an abnormal hate for Middlebury but really you are just too much.

I’m not PP but I’m not sure why the Middlebury boosters continue to insist that things aren’t true that even the school’s administrators will admit to. This is from the president, provost, and CFO: https://www.middlebury.edu/announcements/announcements/2025/04/budget-our-way-forward#the-latest-figures

“At that time, we explained that we’re projecting a $14.1 million deficit this fiscal year, notably higher than our $8.9 million projection from October… Looking forward, we anticipate a similar challenge next year, though we expect that the College will carry a larger portion of the deficit compared with the Institute or Schools.

We want to emphasize that the deficit we’re addressing in this message is at the College. At MIIS we continue to pursue the four-year plan to turn around enrollments.

Carrying a deficit every June 30, as we’ve done for too long, is too great a weight, one that eventually will hamper our ability to deliver on our mission. Our deficits are continually an outlier among our NESCAC peers, which all operate profitably, experiencing only occasional downturns.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be back to 2020 IMO( released fall 2019)

The major difference between 2018/2020 is Columbia. I don’t think it can be #3.

2018 list makes a lot of sense, it’s the one I keep using for closer-to-real ranking.

Their 2018 liberal arts college ranking also makes sense. Each school is more or less at their right place +- 3.

+1

This was the last year of rankings based mostly on meaningful factors.

Someone mentioned Middlebury’s ranking drop above. The drop was driven by the addition socioeconomic factors and then last time around by changes in how FTE were computed which artificially dropped their academic spending number. Someone on CC broke the whole thing down last year when it happened. It hit another school hard as well, maybe W&L?

So why didn't it affect Middlebury's peers the same way? Sounds like a bunch of excuses for Middlebury's smaller financial resources, over enrollment issues, and ballooning deficit. Its budget issues have been outlined by the college itself as an outlier. DEI is not why Middlebury has precipitously dropped.

You're back. I remember a thread a little bit ago where someone dismantled you and your nonsense. Hopefully they will arrive to do it once again but I do remember the gist.

They overenrolled one year and then the poster showed the return to norm.
They don't have a ballooning deficit, they do have an ongoing deficit because of Monterey.
Grinnell suffered the exact same drop and Wesleyan dropped as well.

We know that you have an abnormal hate for Middlebury but really you are just too much.

I’m not PP but I’m not sure why the Middlebury boosters continue to insist that things aren’t true that even the school’s administrators will admit to. This is from the president, provost, and CFO: https://www.middlebury.edu/announcements/announcements/2025/04/budget-our-way-forward#the-latest-figures

“At that time, we explained that we’re projecting a $14.1 million deficit this fiscal year, notably higher than our $8.9 million projection from October… Looking forward, we anticipate a similar challenge next year, though we expect that the College will carry a larger portion of the deficit compared with the Institute or Schools.

We want to emphasize that the deficit we’re addressing in this message is at the College. At MIIS we continue to pursue the four-year plan to turn around enrollments.

Carrying a deficit every June 30, as we’ve done for too long, is too great a weight, one that eventually will hamper our ability to deliver on our mission. Our deficits are continually an outlier among our NESCAC peers, which all operate profitably, experiencing only occasional downturns.”

Why do they have such a bad deficit problem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new ranking will be more aligned with their 2018 ranking.

So practically the same. Usnews ranking has hardly changed over a decade

Because it was a mess in the past few years: test optional, student debt metrics, social mobility.
This year marks the year of returning to the norm.

[Anonymous]

HACK will top the LAC rankings!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new ranking will be more aligned with their 2018 ranking.

So practically the same. Usnews ranking has hardly changed over a decade

Because it was a mess in the past few years: test optional, student debt metrics, social mobility.
This year marks the year of returning to the norm.

Some people here keep saying this but I have yet to see anyone provide evidence that USNWR is planning to do this. Sounds like a lot of wishful thinking at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new ranking will be more aligned with their 2018 ranking.

So practically the same. Usnews ranking has hardly changed over a decade

Because it was a mess in the past few years: test optional, student debt metrics, social mobility.
This year marks the year of returning to the norm.

Some people here keep saying this but I have yet to see anyone provide evidence that USNWR is planning to do this. Sounds like a lot of wishful thinking at this point.

They will either be staying the same or going further in the DEI direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new ranking will be more aligned with their 2018 ranking.

So practically the same. Usnews ranking has hardly changed over a decade

Because it was a mess in the past few years: test optional, student debt metrics, social mobility.
This year marks the year of returning to the norm.

No, I’m saying that the pre-DEI rankings are almost identical to the ones we have today. Really the only difference is Middlebury, which is already being discussed.

I think the change to Usnews metrics is overstated, since a majority of top colleges already have missions and admissions practices aligned with the ranking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be back to 2020 IMO( released fall 2019)

The major difference between 2018/2020 is Columbia. I don’t think it can be #3.

2018 list makes a lot of sense, it’s the one I keep using for closer-to-real ranking.

Their 2018 liberal arts college ranking also makes sense. Each school is more or less at their right place +- 3.

+1

This was the last year of rankings based mostly on meaningful factors.

Someone mentioned Middlebury’s ranking drop above. The drop was driven by the addition socioeconomic factors and then last time around by changes in how FTE were computed which artificially dropped their academic spending number. Someone on CC broke the whole thing down last year when it happened. It hit another school hard as well, maybe W&L?

So why didn't it affect Middlebury's peers the same way? Sounds like a bunch of excuses for Middlebury's smaller financial resources, over enrollment issues, and ballooning deficit. Its budget issues have been outlined by the college itself as an outlier. DEI is not why Middlebury has precipitously dropped.

You're back. I remember a thread a little bit ago where someone dismantled you and your nonsense. Hopefully they will arrive to do it once again but I do remember the gist.

They overenrolled one year and then the poster showed the return to norm.
They don't have a ballooning deficit, they do have an ongoing deficit because of Monterey.
Grinnell suffered the exact same drop and Wesleyan dropped as well.

We know that you have an abnormal hate for Middlebury but really you are just too much.

I have never posted on DCUM about Middlebury, but you do seem heavily invested in this conversation. Everything I’ve shared has been official issues posted by the College.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be back to 2020 IMO( released fall 2019)

The major difference between 2018/2020 is Columbia. I don’t think it can be #3.

2018 list makes a lot of sense, it’s the one I keep using for closer-to-real ranking.

Their 2018 liberal arts college ranking also makes sense. Each school is more or less at their right place +- 3.

+1

This was the last year of rankings based mostly on meaningful factors.

Someone mentioned Middlebury’s ranking drop above. The drop was driven by the addition socioeconomic factors and then last time around by changes in how FTE were computed which artificially dropped their academic spending number. Someone on CC broke the whole thing down last year when it happened. It hit another school hard as well, maybe W&L?

So why didn't it affect Middlebury's peers the same way? Sounds like a bunch of excuses for Middlebury's smaller financial resources, over enrollment issues, and ballooning deficit. Its budget issues have been outlined by the college itself as an outlier. DEI is not why Middlebury has precipitously dropped.

You're back. I remember a thread a little bit ago where someone dismantled you and your nonsense. Hopefully they will arrive to do it once again but I do remember the gist.

They overenrolled one year and then the poster showed the return to norm.
They don't have a ballooning deficit, they do have an ongoing deficit because of Monterey.
Grinnell suffered the exact same drop and Wesleyan dropped as well.

We know that you have an abnormal hate for Middlebury but really you are just too much.

I’m not PP but I’m not sure why the Middlebury boosters continue to insist that things aren’t true that even the school’s administrators will admit to. This is from the president, provost, and CFO: https://www.middlebury.edu/announcements/announcements/2025/04/budget-our-way-forward#the-latest-figures

“At that time, we explained that we’re projecting a $14.1 million deficit this fiscal year, notably higher than our $8.9 million projection from October… Looking forward, we anticipate a similar challenge next year, though we expect that the College will carry a larger portion of the deficit compared with the Institute or Schools.

We want to emphasize that the deficit we’re addressing in this message is at the College. At MIIS we continue to pursue the four-year plan to turn around enrollments.

Carrying a deficit every June 30, as we’ve done for too long, is too great a weight, one that eventually will hamper our ability to deliver on our mission. Our deficits are continually an outlier among our NESCAC peers, which all operate profitably, experiencing only occasional downturns.”

Why do they have such a bad deficit problem?

Here’s what they said:

“The unexpected spike, we said, came from a few sources: Enrollments at the Institute were lower than we planned for, amounting to $8.7 million of the shortfall. There were moderate decreases in tuition revenue at the Language Schools, Bread Loaf, and Schools Abroad, though the Schools as a whole remain revenue positive. And we had significantly higher outlays for healthcare, increased costs for some budgetary items unrelated to salaries or employee benefits, as well as interest and depreciation. Together, these accounted for the other $5.4 million of the projected deficit.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new ranking will be more aligned with their 2018 ranking.

So practically the same. Usnews ranking has hardly changed over a decade

Because it was a mess in the past few years: test optional, student debt metrics, social mobility.
This year marks the year of returning to the norm.

No, I’m saying that the pre-DEI rankings are almost identical to the ones we have today. Really the only difference is Middlebury, which is already being discussed.

I think the change to Usnews metrics is overstated, since a majority of top colleges already have missions and admissions practices aligned with the ranking.

This is true. The big impacts in the top 70 or 80 were only for a small number of schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new ranking will be more aligned with their 2018 ranking.

Why do you say this? Citation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should only allow test REqUIRED schools in the top 15.

You can’t be elite when 40% don’t submit scores (meaning they don’t have the acceptable high scores). That’s lower caliber/selectivity—even though it attracts more students and falsely skews acceptance %

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing for sure: the test required schools will be massively promoted, the test blind schools will be massively demoted.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be back to 2020 IMO( released fall 2019)

The major difference between 2018/2020 is Columbia. I don’t think it can be #3.

2018 list makes a lot of sense, it’s the one I keep using for closer-to-real ranking.

Their 2018 liberal arts college ranking also makes sense. Each school is more or less at their right place +- 3.

+1

This was the last year of rankings based mostly on meaningful factors.

Someone mentioned Middlebury’s ranking drop above. The drop was driven by the addition socioeconomic factors and then last time around by changes in how FTE were computed which artificially dropped their academic spending number. Someone on CC broke the whole thing down last year when it happened. It hit another school hard as well, maybe W&L?

So why didn't it affect Middlebury's peers the same way? Sounds like a bunch of excuses for Middlebury's smaller financial resources, over enrollment issues, and ballooning deficit. Its budget issues have been outlined by the college itself as an outlier. DEI is not why Middlebury has precipitously dropped.

+1, midd is currently undergoing extensive budget cuts and a partial hiring freeze. I wouldn't wave my finger at Black students.

+1

Especially in a state like Vermont! 🤣