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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Thanks so much for this list. This is incredibly helpful. Can you list the formula you used and how each criteria were weighted? [/quote]

The first thing I did was to figure out the median SAT score for each college, since I wanted to include only those with a 1360 or above (95th percentile). For colleges that don't require test scores from all applicants, I set the cutoff at 1400.

I then chose the criteria that would likely matter the most to me, placed them each on a 100-point scale, and gave them the following weights (annotated):

% of classes with under 30 students--20%   I like the <20 measure that USNWR uses, but wasn't sure classes that small would be necessary for me, so I upped it a bit.

diversity of student body--10%     I decided that anything up to 50% non-white was a good thing, but anything beyond that didn't have any effect on my thinking. Using 50% also makes it easier math-wise, since I just have to double whatever each school's number is to put it on a 100-point scale. 42 of the 90 schools I looked at had over 50% non-white students and received a score of 100.

% of faculty who are women--5%    Same thing with taking any number up to 50% and doubling it. The only schools to score 100 on this were all liberal arts colleges.

% of faculty who are minority--5%     Again, any number up to 50% was doubled. The closest anyone got to 100 here was a 74 (37%)...at the University of Miami, interestingly. USC was #2 with 35% (score of 70).

Princeton Review score for how much students like their professors--20%. They do this on a 100-point scale, so no need for adjustment.

Princeton Review score for students' overall happiness with non-academic issues (food, dorm, admin, campus, etc)--20%.     They use a 100-point scale for this, too.

Total number of classes offered--20%     I transferred out of my LAC into a state school at least partly due to the limited number of classes in my major, so this is important to me. I decided that anything under 2000 class sections (for the entire school) should have points taken off, so I subtracted 1 point for every 100 class sections below 2000.

I like the balancing of the first and last factors. To whatever extent possible, I personally value any school higher that has many, many options for me to choose from, but that also has classes small enough for me to be able to ask questions without feeling like I'm monopolizing limited time. Smaller classes also mean I'm more likely to be able to connect with the professors outside the classroom and get to know the other students well enough to continue discussions when class is over.

The data came from each college's Common Data Set and from Princeton Review. Section B of the CDS has data on student diversity, and Section I has faculty diversity and data for classes.

FYI, please don't respond with arguments about why my choice of criteria or my weightings are not what should be used. That's the whole point of this exercise! Everyone should pick what's important to them as an individual and create their own personal ranking. Yes, I realize that 40% of my decision is based on the opinions of students. I happen to think that's a great source of information, certainly better than the 20% that USNWR gives to the opinions of school officials. You may disagree, so adjust accordingly.

Reminder: the overall score differential between Pomona at #1 (score 91.0) and MIT at number 50 (score 84.9) is 6.1 on my personal list. That's NOT a large spread! I would probably be happy at any of these schools if all the other factors I might consider fell into line. The list is just to show myself where things fall for a combination of the factors MOST important to me. If I decide that being closer to home, or in the city with the largest student population in the country, or at a school with lots of cool research in physics going on is really important to me, too, then MIT might end up edging out places higher on the list.

Oh, and getting back to the original point of this thread, here are the scores for Macalester:

% classes under 30--93 times .2 (weight) = 18.6
Student diversity--86 times .1 = 8.6.
Women faculty--100 times .05 = 5.0
Minority faculty--55 times .05 = 2.75
Professors good?--93 times .2 = 18.6
Happy with school?--91 times .2 = 18.2
Number of classes--85 times .2 = 17
Total score = 88.75

Hope this is helpful!

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