’s the News About U. S. News 2013 Best College Rank Office of Analytic Support and Institutional Research November 18, 2013
What’s the News About U. S. News 2013 Best College Rankings?
Office of Analytic Support and Institutional Research
November 18, 2013
America’s Top Colleges
Best Values In Private Colleges
WashingtonMONTHLY
College Guide
Multiple Lenses
INTROSPECTION
The CIRP Freshman Survey
National Survey of Student Engagement
Student Satisfaction Inventory
Workplace Climate Surveys
The President’s Survey of Faculty
HERI Faculty Survey
And more!
USNWR HEADLINES
Grinnell’s Overall Rank - Up by 5 – from #22 to #17
Other Rank Changes (listed in order of magnitude)- Up: Selectivity, faculty resources, financial resources - Down: Alumni giving, academic reputation -but still very high)- No change: Graduation/retention
Other Mentions of Grinnell:- Strong commitment to teaching (#3 among liberal arts)- Notable undergraduate research- Economic diversity (#2 among liberal arts colleges)- Best Value college (#7 among liberal arts)- Least debt list (#12 among liberal arts)
Another New Methodology This Year- Reduced reputational weight (-2.5%)- More graduation/retention weight (+2.5%)
Sources of US News Data
• The Common Data Set - hosted by The College Board- improve sharing and accuracy with standard elements
• IPEDS- Integrated Postsecondary Educational Data System- Primary entity for federal collection of data
- Covers institution characteristics, finance, financial aid
• Campus Offices- Admission- Benefits- Dean- Financial Aid- Registrar- Student Affairs- Treasurer
US News and World Report Ranking System 2013Source: USNWR Rankings, September 2013
R. Stiles
Rank
Overall Score
Undergraduate AcademicReputation
(22.5%)
Graduation/Retention
Rank(22.5%)
FacultyResources
Rank(20%)
SelectivityRank
Fall 2011(12.5%)
FinancialResources
Rank(10%)
AlumniGivingRank(5%)
GraduationRate
Performance(7.5%)
SAT/ACT (65%) fall 2011Top 10% of HS class (25%) fall 2011Acceptance rate (10%) fall 2011
Avg 6-year grad rate (80%)for fall 2003 through fall2006 freshmen
Avg fresh ret rate (20%)for fall 2008 through fall2011
Faculty compensation (35%) AY12&AY13 avgClasses < 20 students (30%) fall 2012% terminal degree (15%) AY13 Classes ≥ 50 students (10%) fall 2011% FT faculty (5%) AY13Student/faculty ratio (5%) fall 2012
Note: 66.7 % based on 1 to 5 ratings of presidents, provosts and deans of admissions; 33.3% basedon high school counselors’ ratingsSpring 2013; 2-yr avg for counselors
Note: this indicator reflects the difference between USNWR predicted and actual graduation rates for students entering in fall 2006
Average per-full-time student spending on instruction, research,public service, academic support,student services and instructional support in the 2011-2012 fiscal years.
Average percentageof living alumni withBachelors degreeswho gave during09-10 and 10-11;“A proxy for how satisfiedstudents are with the school.”
In 2013, less weight (-2.5%) on selectivity and within thisparameter, less weight on classrank and more on test scores
More weight (+2.5%)this year
Peer assessment score
H S counselor assessment score
Average freshman retention rate
Actual Graduation Rate
% of classes under 20 ('12)
% of classes of 50 or more ('12)
Freshmen in top 10% of HS class ('12)
Acceptance rate ('12)
Average alumni giving rate
0.0%
20.0%
40.0%
60.0%
80.0%
100.0%
120.0%
Average Values Within USNWR Bands and Grinnell Values 2013Source: USNWR 2013, September 2013
Top 102nd ten3rd ten4th tenGrinnell
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 20130
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40 3.0
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
4.0
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
USNWR Trends - Grinnell CollegeSource: USNWR Rankings, September, 2013
R. Stiles September 10, 2013
Overall Rank
Grad/retention rank
Faculty resources rank
Selectivity rank
Financial resources rank
Alumni giving rank
Undergrad academic reputation
Year
Ra
nk
Un
der
gra
du
ate
acad
emic
rep
uta
tio
n in
dex
Note:Military academies included with liberal arts in 2007 - thishas had a negative effect onGrinnell's ranks since then. In2013, only the Naval Academywas ranked higher than Grinnell.
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 201240.0%
45.0%
50.0%
55.0%
60.0%
65.0%
70.0%
75.0%
80.0%
85.0%
90.0%
f(x) = 0.00767692307692307 x + 0.754272283272283
f(x) = 0.00547472527472528 x + 0.663010989010989
f(x) = 0.00675904095904096 x + 0.567482517482518
f(x) = 0.00664175824175824 x + 0.517043956043956
f(x) = 0.00268131868131868 x + 0.614175824175824
USNWR Selectivity Trends - Top 10% of HS Class
Top 10Linear (Top 10)11 to 20Linear (11 to 20)21 to 30Linear (21 to 30)31 to 40Linear (31 to 40)GrinnellLinear (Grinnell)
Fres
hmen
in T
op 1
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rcen
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lass
What Grinnell First-Years Say About the Importance of RankingsSource: CIRP Freshman Survey 2012
Rankings are # 10 among 23 “Very Important”
reasons for choosing Grinnell
#1 was “Academic Reputation”
26% of our studentsnoted rankings as one
of the “Very Important”reasons for their
college choice
85% notedacademic reputationas “Very Important”
The PayScale.com Ranking
On September 13, 2013 the New York Times published an article in their Business Day Economy section
entitled “New Metric for Colleges: Graduates’ Salaries”
College USNWR Rank PayScale Rank
Colorado 31 291
Grinnell 17 366
Oberlin 25 218
Are PayScale.com data credible?
What are the implications of these rankings for Grinnell?
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Payscale.com Starting and Mid-Career Salaries - 2013Salaries are for those who have chosen not to complete graduate stud-
ies
Starting SalaryMid-CareerStart AvgMid Avg
Std Dev = $15,109
Std Dev = $6,287
Grinnellsample size = 167- starting pay is 0.19 std dev below mean ($1,173)- mid-career pay is 0.82 std dev below mean ($12,384)
Data Quality Issues:- Biased sample; self-selection, non-representative- Small sample; large confidence intervals
PayScale.com Salary Data - Sample Size and Years of Experience DistributionColorado Grinnell Oberlin
Years of experience n
Mid-Career Median Salary n
Mid-Career Median Salary n
Mid-Career Median Salary
Less than 1 6 45,500$ 3 47,000$ 7 45,000$ 1 through 4 35 41,645$ 36 39,995$ 47 48,796$ 5 through 9 23 54,496$ 22 69,466$ 27 64,394$ 10 through 19 23 71,899$ 19 85,552$ 18 81,077$ Greater than 20 10 68,550$ 9 93,000$ 13 103,042$ Total n 97 89 112
"Typical Starting Salary" 41,800$ 44,000$ 38,800$ "Typical Mid-Career Salary" 80,500$ 77,400$ 83,900$
167"Starting Employees" have less than 5 years experience; typical is 25 years of age and 2 years experience"Mid-Career Employees" have ten or more years of experience; typical is 42 years of age and 15 years of experience; baccalaureate-level education only
Notes: 1. "Typical mid-career salary" is used as the basis for college rankings by PayScale.com; n=167 for Grinnell 2. Years of experience data include those with advanced degrees, thus the higher salary values
CAUTIONS ABOUT RANKINGS
“U.S. News' College Rankings Are Terrible -- But It's Not (Completely) Their Fault”
Tom AllisonPolicy and Research Manager, Young Invincibles
Huffington PostSeptember 6, 2013
USNWR FORBES WASH MO KIPLINGERSAmherst Pomona Carleton SwarthmoreSwarthmore Swarthmore Swarthmore PomonaBowdoin Amherst Pomona Washington and LeePomona Bowdoin Grinnell AmherstCarleton Washington and Lee Reed BowdoinDavidson Davidson Macalester DavidsonWashington and Lee Carleton Oberlin ColoradoGrinnell Oberlin Amherst GrinnellMacalester Grinnell Davidson CarletonOberlin Reed Colorado MacalesterColorado Colorado Washington and Lee OberlinReed Macalester Bowdoin Reed
RATING SYSTEMS SUMMARY
QUESTIONS?
For more information:http://www.library.illinois.edu/sshel/specialcollections/rankings/index.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-allison/us-news-college-rankings_b_3874833.html