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<p>The factors in which Middlebury outscores Pomona count very heavily in the US News ranking methodology:</p>
<p>Alumni giving: 5% of total score
Financial Resources: 10% of total score
Faculty Resources: 20% of total score</p>
<p>In contrast, many of the factors in which Pomona outscores Midd count for less:
Acceptance Rate: 1.5% of total score
Percentage of freshmen in top 10% of HS Class: 6% of total score
SAT/ACT scores: 7.5% of total score
Counselor rating: 7.5% of total score
Freshman retention rate: 4% of total score
Graduation rate: 16% of total score</p>
<p>Some of the other categories–full-time faculty, student:faculty ratio, class size–are subcategories of “faculty resources,” so any advantages Pomona has in these categories are presumably more than wiped out by Middebury’s advantage in the biggest faculty resources subcategory, which is faculty compensation (35% of total faculty resources score). </p>
<p>Bottom line, USNews rewards schools that spend a lot of money, and it appears to value spending over measures that more directly reflect academic quality.</p>