The Atlantic' joins college rankings club

A new set of college rankings places Tufts 36th out of its list of the top 50 schools in the country.

The November issue of The Atlantic Monthly includes the magazine's first annual report on colleges and the admissions process

Unlike US News & World Report, which has fine-tuned its school rankings to make them one of the primary references for many prospective college students, The Atlantic's rankings only include three criteria: acceptance rate, SAT scores of admitted students, and the percentage of matriculating freshmen who placed in the top ten percent of their high school class.

The survey did not include some of the subjective measures included in the US News rankings, such as the "peer assessment" rating. This rating, based on evaluations completed by other university presidents, provosts and admissions officers, counts for 25 percent of the final score.

The survey also evaluates all colleges together, whereas the US News rankings are divided into universities that award doctoral degrees, universities that award masters degrees but few doctorates, liberal arts colleges, and undergraduate colleges that offer a mix of liberal arts and pre-professional degrees. Tufts was ranked 27th among universities that award doctoral degrees in US News' 2004 rankings. In The Atlantic's rankings, ten liberal arts colleges were ranked ahead of Tufts.

Administrators at Tufts have long stated that any ranking within an elite group of schools is excellent.

"If this survey is ranking the 50 top colleges, then any spot within that top 50 is laudable," said Dean of Admissions Lee Coffin.

But the admissions office has scoffed at the practice of ranking schools in a precise order.

Coffin said that The Altantic's criteria may make the rankings more reliable.

"Reputation, that's so subjective," he said. "Having that removed is probably a good thing."

The purpose of The Atlantic's rankings was to dispel some myths regarding the importance of school selectivity -- measured by how low its acceptance rate is.

"By way of experiment, The Atlantic gathered data on America's most selective schools and created a ranking of the top 50," the magazine wrote. "The ranking is derived entirely from three variables that college admissions officers commonly say are most indicative of a school's competitiveness."

But the magazine argues that acceptance rates, one of the three factors used, are not always reliable indicators of the quality of a school and its students. Based on The Atlantic's research, MIT is the most selective school. However, it is easier for women to get admitted to MIT than any of the other top 20 schools.

The percentage of students admitted early decision can also affect an institution's selectivity. In The Atlantic, Princeton was ranked as the second most selective school, with the lowest admittance rate, but the magazine noted that while only eight percent of applicants were accepted through regular decision, almost four times that many (31 percent) were admitted through early decision.

The article challenged the qualifications of early decision applicants, and cited a recent study by Harvard researchers that found that applying early as opposed to regular decision had the equivalent effect of adding 100 points to an applicant's SAT score.

Tufts regular decision admittance rate for 2002 was 27 percent. Its early decision rate was 43 percent.

While Coffin disagreed with the precise findings of the Harvard study, he did acknowledge that they may have some validity.

"A student who has applied ED [early decision] but is slightly off the profile but comes with enthusiasm and commitment -- that does count for something," he said. "This student has declared us first choice."

He added that admissions offices can manipulate regular decision numbers by admitting a high proportion of students early, leaving few places for those who apply during the regular admissions cycle.

George Matranga, visiting Tufts with his son, a prospective student, had not heard of The Atlantic's college ranking, but said he feels that rankings are overvalued.

"It's a pretty screwed-up system," he said. "I'm not sure it's really accurate."

Coffin advocates using rankings such as the Atlantic's as more of a general guide. "What [the ranking] is telling us is 'this is where high-powered students have enrolled,'" he said.