What is required to graduate with honors… research paper with a faculty supervisor or just a solid GPA? Or does everyone have to do a senior thesis to graduate? College touts a consortium…how many students actually manage to schedule classes at the other colleges? College touts a combined Bachelor’s/Masters program…how many actually complete it, and are these students actually taking graduate level courses in the last year or just racking up more credits without an increase in rigor? College brags about the number of study abroad programs…are these courses taught by actual faculty in an actual overseas university, or are they “let’s explore Florence together” courses taught by locals who happen to be fluent in English? Etc.
And Clery reporting. What does the student newspaper say about a recent allegation of sexual assault and did the university involve law enforcement or try to sweep it under the rug…
To me, these are meaningful data points. The fact that Swarthmore’s endowment is bigger than Bryn Mawr…I think it’s somewhat irrelevant.