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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Can someone explain how Claremont McKenna is so high and Pomona is so low? Are they really that different? I’ve read the whole thread and the methodology - and as a Colgate alum I’m happy with my college’s placement - but I still think this list is weird.[/quote]

These schools are extremely different. Pomona is modelled as a West Coast Dartmouth.  It produces a high percentage that go on to do PhDs.  CMC has preparing for the professions in the mission statement.  The school frames the experience so the kids are focused on going for MBB/finance.  The school does an amazing job of framing the experience around that objective.  Many successful entrepreneurs value this, so the student body tends to be well connected, and the school incorporates this into its network as much as alums.  Ultimately, the outcomes are amazing & the CMC network appreciates this, in turn setting records for SLAC fundraisings for the entire country (over $1bn raised in last fund raising drive).

So if your methodology is ROI, it goes to CMC.  If it’s PhD, you then it goes to Pomona. 
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Pomona scores very low on salary impact compared to CMC…however, salary impact only looks at kids getting jobs.  There are no points detracted for kids that go to grad school.

This implies Pomona grads take very different jobs vs CMC grads.[/quote]

Pomona has very academic kids.  CMC has business and finance kids.   Dartmouth is like those two schools put together.[/quote]

What does that mean from a job perspective?  Pomona kids that go into the workforce take jobs at NPOs or where?[/quote]

Many Pomona kids go to grad school, medical school, or law school.  The Pomona grads that go into the workforce go to different companies, not just NPOs.  A CS major can go to a tech company, for example.  I have heard that Swarthmore is very similar to Pomona and also like this.
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So why is Swarthmore ranked 35 and Pomona 170?[/quote]

Maybe because Swarthmore offers degrees in engineering and Pomona does not.  Also, Swarthmore is geographically closer to banking and consulting centers, so maybe they have more kids going into those high-paying jobs.[/quote]

What about Amherst and Williams? They’re even closer to NYC. [/quote]

I don't know.  Probably Amherst, Williams, and Swarthmore all do better in $$$ outcome than Pomona.  The kids at Pomona are throwing a frisbee around in January while the kids at the other schools are snowed in and studying.[/quote]

Or maybe the WSJ came up with a completely useless ranking that makes no sense whatsoever. It takes a lot of mental gymnastics to put UC Merced in the top 20. And Pomona at 170.[/quote]

There is actually zero mental gymnastics.  It’s all from mathematical formulas based on quantitative data.[/quote]

However, the decision to apply an expected result (e.g. actual graduation rate vs 'expected' graduation rate) is a qualitative one, as are the weightings.  This is what is meant by an objective (for the data) to subjective (for the scoring) back to objective (for the ranking) flaw in the methodology and inference.[/quote]

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