<p>These rankings are fun to look at and even more fun to argue over!</p>
<p>I see a lot of volatility with this ranking which suggests to me that the metrics used are in units that measure insignificantly small differences. Haverford is 7 this year and Swat is 16 but last year HC was 14 and Swat 7 (Wellesley was # 6 in 2009 and it’s 19 this year, ect…). I don’t recall my brother or friends who went to Swat telling me in the last year that their school imploded and I think HC is similar to what it was last year as well. The only difference I’m familiar with is that this year, HC has a Rhodes winner which is one criteria used by Forbes. HC provided the exact same education before this winner and will likely do the same next year even if there is no Rhodes winner as well. </p>
<p>I think though these rankings are somewhat useful when aggregated together like a Venn diagram. All rankings have their limits and may only capture one facet of “quality” but certain schools are consistently in the top 10-20 in US News, Newsweek, Forbes, WSJ, Atlantic monthly, PhD rankings, HHMI/NSF funding, ect… and Haverford is one of them. I’ve seen some other threads with this topic where people are defensive, irked and argue over this ranking but when you consider that there are about 2500 undergrad schools in the US, it puts into perspective how little a few rungs difference at the top matter or should matter for any ranking.</p>
<p>[America’s</a> Top Colleges - Forbes](<a href=“http://blogs.forbes.com/michaelnoer/2011/08/03/americas-top-colleges/]America’s”>America's Top Colleges)</p>
<p>1 Williams College
2 Princeton University
3 United States Military Academy
4 Amherst College
5 Stanford University
6 Harvard University
7 Haverford College
8 University of Chicago
9 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
10 United States Air Force Academy
11 Northwestern University
12 Claremont McKenna College
13 California Institute of Technology
14 Yale University
15 Carleton College
16 Swarthmore College
17 United States Naval Academy
18 University of Notre Dame
19 Wellesley College
20 Colby College </p>
<p>[America’s</a> Best Colleges - Forbes.com](<a href=“http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/11/best-colleges-universities-rating-ranking-opinions-best-colleges-10_land.html]America’s”>America's Best Colleges)</p>
<ol>
<li>Williams College </li>
<li>Princeton University </li>
<li>Amherst College </li>
<li>United States Military Academy </li>
<li>Massachusetts Institute of Technology </li>
<li>Stanford University </li>
<li>Swarthmore College </li>
<li>Harvard University </li>
<li>Claremont McKenna College </li>
<li>Yale University </li>
<li>United States Air Force Academy </li>
<li>Wellesley College </li>
<li>Columbia University </li>
<li>Haverford College </li>
<li>Wesleyan University </li>
<li>Whitman College </li>
<li>Pomona College </li>
<li>Northwestern University </li>
<li>California Institute of Technology </li>
<li>University of Chicago</li>
</ol>
<p><a href=“Forbes List Directory”>Forbes List Directory;
<p>1 United States Military Academy
2 Princeton University
3 California Institute of Technology
4 Williams College<br>
5 Harvard University<br>
6 Wellesley College<br>
7 United States Air Force Academy
8 Amherst College<br>
9 Yale University
10 Stanford University
11 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
12 Swarthmore College
13 Columbia University
14 Centre College
15 Haverford College
16 Boston College
17 Northwestern University
18 Bowdoin College
19 Vassar College
20 Whitman College</p>