Reply to What are the differences between Middlebury, Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Bowdoin’s working peer group is the very top of the LAC category:

https://www.sixcolleges.org/[/quote]

Carleton is an interesting choice for this "peer" group.[/quote]

Those 6 are also consistently top 10 USNWR LACs while the others OP asked about are not.[/quote]

Oh, really? Since 2000, Carleton has ranked higher than Middlebury in USNews eight times. They've tied six times. Middlebury has ranked higher than Carleton 12 times. [/quote]

The statement you are trying to refute is factually correct. None of the six colleges have been outside of the top 10 since 2000. Middlebury has, including each of the last three years.  Middlebury is a great school but you are trying to pick a fight needlessly by challenging statements that are in fact true. [/quote]

This is the statement that the PP made: "Those 6 are also consistently top 10 USNWR LACs while the others OP asked about are not."

With the exception of the past three years, Middlebury has consistently been in the top 10 (and even top 5). It fell when the rankings started focusing more on social mobility. In 2023 and 2024, it was ranked 11. Last year, 19.  [/quote]

The 6% increase (5% to 11%) increase in weighting that pertains to Pell grant graduation rates is not the sole reason for Middlebury’s drop.

Of note, the last year Middlebury ranked in the T10 (2022) it ranked 7th for financial resources. It now ranks 45th. This category currently counts for 8%, down from 10% (to the benefit of Middlebury.) The 2025 methodology explicitly states spending not related to academics does not count; the 2022 does not say the same.

Middlebury also has gone from 8/1 to 9/1 in student to faculty ratio. Fortunately for Middlebury, that metric now only counts for 4% while in 2022 it counted for 8%.

Back to Pell grant grad rates, I personally think the 11% is defensible considering 1/3 of students nationally receive federal aid and all students on campus benefit when the less financially fortunate are not dropping out more than the rest.

I happen to think Middlebury is a fantastic school. But the constant moaning about how it dropped just because of social mobility is not only misleading but also counterproductive in reversing the perception its community should do more to help its less financially privileged students. [/quote]

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