August 24, 2006

Multiple rankings

It’s that time of year when the college rankings are out, and once again the College is in the second row of U.S. News’s annual rankings, with some cow college in the Berkshires taking the lead spot. Congratulations to Williams for their title defense, particularly on the heels of last year’s “triple double” (for three consecutive years, Williams led both the U.S. News rankings and the Sears Director’s Cup standings.) The College did well in graduation numbers and the percentage of faculty who are full-time, but lagged behind Williams in class size, faculty resources, and financial resources. (We’re proud to point out that we had a higher alumni giving rate, but clearly the three areas where we’re lacking can be best addressed by, you guessed it, more money.)

Still, the U.S. News rankings are coming under attack from many directions, and it’s useful to note that they aren’t the only show in town. Once again, the Jeffs trounced Williams in the Washington Monthly college rankings, moving up to fifth while Williams was eighth. The Washington Monthly rankings are a deliberately contrarian set based on asking “not what colleges can do for you, but what colleges are doing for the country.”

And the sports information office tells us that both Amherst and Williams are in the top five of the 2006 NCSA Power Rankings:

The National Collegiate Scouting Association takes a comprehensive approach to determining which schools are tops in the country. Using an average of three different national rankings, including the U.S. News & World Reports rankings (academics), the U.S. Sports Academy Director’s Cup ranks (athletics), and the NCAA Student-Athlete graduation rates, NCSA is able to provide the public with a more broad view of which schools top the charts.

Amherst College placed second in the Division III rankings in addition to the overall rankings, with Duke University and Stanford University joining the trio of NESCAC powerhouses in the overall top five.

Amherst placing second in both the overall ranking and the Division III ranking allows those who took Logic to make some deductions about where in the top 5 Williams placed, particularly considering the triple double mentioned above, but the Athletics office delicately does not mention a number. Considering that graduation rates are considered in the U.S. News rankings, it would seem that those are double-counted in the NCSA report, but what do we know about college rankings? After all, we went to the #1 ranked college, which wasn’t Williams in those days, and yet we don’t think the two institutions have changed that much in the last ten years.

Parker Morse '96 | August 24, 2006 09:52 AM | Athletics | Campus | Publications

Al | August 29, 2006 10:07 AM:

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