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<p>When you run USNews, I have no doubt that you’ll adjust the weightings so that Pomona comes out on top every time.</p>
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<p>Pomona doesn’t need to provide athletic “tips” for nearly as many students as Amherst, Williams, and Middlebury do. Granted its sports teams aren’t as nationally recognized, but regardless, the fact that schools like Swarthmore and Pomona don’t need to recruit as many high-preforming varsity athletes as the NESCAC powerhouses plays a small part.</p>
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<p>When dealing with liberal arts colleges, in general, the larger the school, the greater the disadvantage when it comes to certain stats (like acceptance rate, endowment per student, student/faculty ratio, etc.). LACs don’t have the national reputations that larger DI schools have, so large student bodies don’t always translate into higher application numbers. Middlebury has grown in size by 25% in the past 15 years. Imagine what Midd’s stats would look like if its total enrollment was 1,500 students. </p>
<p>And believe it or not, 300 students makes a difference when we’re dealing with schools of this size. To get 300 more students, most colleges would need to accept more than 2-3 times that number during their admissions cycle. And we’re not comparing Middlebury and Williams here. We’re comparing Middlebury and Pomona. There’s a difference.</p>