Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 09:30     Subject: Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?
Anonymous wrote:underrated: Carleton, Macalester, Reed




Yes, these. All wonderful schools.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 09:30     Subject: Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?
Anonymous wrote:underrated: Carleton, Macalester, Reed

I have a 3 word response to your list of 3 schools: Location, location, location.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 09:29     Subject: Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Dartmouth College is the most under-ranked LAC. This is due to playing in the Big league among National Universities.

Well because it’s not a lac. It has a medical and business school for heavens sake.


LOL ! I see that you catch on quickly.

Maybe you should stick to the bush league (LACs).
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 09:26     Subject: Re:Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Amherst, Swarthmore, and Pomona should be above, or at least with, Williams at this point. Williams and Princeton have been USNWR darlings for a decade+ but people are still choosing to go to Harvard and Stanford instead for national universities and to Amherst and Swarthmore for SLACs.


I prefer A/S/P over Williams but objectively, there's no denying Williams is superior. In fact, Williams consistently wins cross admit battles against Amherst and hit a much higher yield recently (59% vs Amherst and Swat's 40-45%).

Williams has a smaller student to faculty ratio, smaller classes (nearly 80% under 20 vs 65-75% at the others), better maintained facilities (Swat might be prettier but the buildings themselves aren't in the best physical shape), winter study and tutorials for truly distinctive academic experiences, the top d3 athletic program, stronger students by academic standards, and better outcomes based on most outcome oriented rankings. You also get access to the most comprehensive network of Oxford/Cambridge fellowships and study away of any school in the country.

It's a really good school. If it were in a suburban area or had the consortium access the others do, it'd crush the competition.



This may well be true. At DC's magnet, Amherst is a far more popular application--more than 3x as many as Williams. DC said it is because of location and consortium opportunities, as well as the rep for excellent pre-med and pre-law advising. My kid was okay with suburban but didn't want to be that rural and remote, especially for long winters, and our less-than-happy student tour guide gave us a negative impression of the campus vibe. At Amherst, Pomona, and Bowdoin, kids seemed much happier. Even Swarthmore, despite its rep, felt positive when we visited.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 09:23     Subject: Re:Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?
Anonymous wrote:Only on USNews is Princeton the number 1 university. It’s all BS factors created to surprise people. Williams isn’t even the most sought after lac, but we’re expected to just agree that it’s #1 and has been for decades?


Which is the most sought after LAC if not Williams?
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 09:20     Subject: Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?
underrated: Carleton, Macalester, Reed

Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 09:09     Subject: Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?
Anonymous wrote:Dartmouth College is the most under-ranked LAC. This is due to playing in the Big league among National Universities.

Well because it’s not a lac. It has a medical and business school for heavens sake.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 09:06     Subject: Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?
Dartmouth College is the most under-ranked LAC. This is due to playing in the Big league among National Universities.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 09:03     Subject: Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Reed is the most underrated (and intentionally so).


Lacks diversity - both in terms of socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity, and is for faux intellectuals with trust funds. Overrated in my opinion.

Why does that even matter? They clearly are intellectual if so many of them go to grad school. Not everything is about race.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 09:01     Subject: Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?
Anonymous wrote:Reed is the most underrated (and intentionally so).


Lacks diversity - both in terms of socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity, and is for faux intellectuals with trust funds. Overrated in my opinion.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 08:16     Subject: Re:Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:overrated - Colby and Richmond; to a lesser extent, Bowdoin

underrated - Haverford, Macalester and Wesleyan


Totally disagree, Bowdoin is underrated. It is such a great college environment.

Overrated. It’s campus is unremarkable and the academic offerings are subpar. It should be ranked lower than the top 10
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 07:51     Subject: Re:Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?
The easy answer is Reed is very under ranked. I’m surprised us news is still internationally keeping them at a low rank. If you want to be an academic, it’s one of your best bets.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 07:23     Subject: Re:Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?
Only on USNews is Princeton the number 1 university. It’s all BS factors created to surprise people. Williams isn’t even the most sought after lac, but we’re expected to just agree that it’s #1 and has been for decades?
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 06:38     Subject: Re:Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?
^which is why usnews does mean anything. Find the schools in tier college your DC is interested in and choose by whichever is the best fit.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 06:27     Subject: Re:Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Amherst, Swarthmore, and Pomona should be above, or at least with, Williams at this point. Williams and Princeton have been USNWR darlings for a decade+ but people are still choosing to go to Harvard and Stanford instead for national universities and to Amherst and Swarthmore for SLACs.


I prefer A/S/P over Williams but objectively, there's no denying Williams is superior. In fact, Williams consistently wins cross admit battles against Amherst and hit a much higher yield recently (59% vs Amherst and Swat's 40-45%).

Williams has a smaller student to faculty ratio, smaller classes (nearly 80% under 20 vs 65-75% at the others), better maintained facilities (Swat might be prettier but the buildings themselves aren't in the best physical shape), winter study and tutorials for truly distinctive academic experiences, the top d3 athletic program, stronger students by academic standards, and better outcomes based on most outcome oriented rankings. You also get access to the most comprehensive network of Oxford/Cambridge fellowships and study away of any school in the country.

It's a really good school. If it were in a suburban area or had the consortium access the others do, it'd crush the competition.

That’s just because USNEWS tailors their rankings towards their golden child university (Princeton) and college (Williams) every year. They aren’t actually better. Williams has some dilapidated facilities (looking right at you Willy hall) and the tutorial program is really what keeps the class size so low. The Oxbridge fellowships aren’t distinct and every other lac has access to them; Pomona actually has 1 that Williams doesn’t even have access to. Cross admit numbers change year over year and a majority of WASP is not cross choosing Williams.

+1, it’s also a feedback loop where Williams looms over everyone else from their peer assessments, but that’s because they’ve always been said as the best. Some schools like CMC get knocked down hard for unfair peer assessments; if you got away with peer assessments, it’s highly likely that CMC is a top 5 and Amherst/Swarthmore topple Williams.