Best Academic Reputation vs. Best Price

[AustenNut]

@Ruff

I think it’s a better learning environment for undergrads. There are smaller classes and on average, more talented students. Professors are more interested and accessible.

It sounds as though you’re interested in having a strong learning environment with accessible professors. The Wall Street Journal recently released its rankings, and I’ve been diving in to some of the metrics. I looked up the metrics under “Learning Environment” for each of the Pennsylvania schools and will share them here, so you can see how the schools scored (based on survey responses from current students & alumni who graduated within the last 5 years).

The list is sorted by the Learning Opportunities Score, which I view as being closest to what you’re talking about. Bucknell had the highest score, but there are other schools like Susquehanna, Gettysburg, and U. of Scranton that scored very well on that metric and that give much more generous merit aid.

School	Learning Opportunities Score	Preparation for Career	Learning Facilities	Recommendation Score
Bucknell	79	78	90	80
Allegheny	77	72	81	77
Susquehanna	76	78	81	74
Gettysburg	75	73	83	74
U. of Scranton	75	75	87	82
Dickinson	74	71	85	71
Juniata	74	74	77	76
St. Francis	74	73	76	67
Haverford	73	66	85	74
Lafayette	73	75	87	80
Lehigh	73	75	87	80
Elizabethtown	73	71	80	70
Villanova	73	78	77	77
Ursinus	72	65	79	63
Pennsylvania College of Technology	72	76	77	74
Messiah	72	73	79	67
Swarthmore	71	66	87	74
Muhlenberg	71	68	78	65
Franklin & Marshall	71	67	78	60
Kutztown	71	71	74	67
Slippery Rock	71	74	81	78
Washington & Jefferson	71	68	82	66
Lebanon Valley	71	71	74	67
U. of Pennsylvania	70	77	83	79
Thomas Jefferson	70	71	74	68
Penn State	69	72	79	74
Lycoming	69	65	80	57
Carnegie Mellon	68	69	78	72
Duquesne	68	70	79	71
St. Joseph’s	68	68	73	65
Chatham	67	62	70	54
U. of Pittsburgh	66	68	74	76
Drexel	66	72	71	64
Temple	65	69	78	69
West Chester	65	67	80	75
Indiana U. of PA	63	64	77	67

@AustenNut

the definitions that WSJ used for these categories:

Learning environment (20%):

• Learning opportunities (5%): The quality and frequency of learning opportunities at the college, based on our student survey. This includes questions about interactions with faculty, feedback and the overall quality of teaching.
• Preparation for career (5%): The quality and frequency of opportunities for students to prepare for their future careers, based on our student survey. This includes questions about networking opportunities, career advice and support, and applied learning.
• Learning facilities (5%): Student satisfaction with the college’s learning-related facilities, based on our student survey. This includes questions about library facilities, internet reliability, and classrooms and teaching facilities.
• Recommendation score (5%): The extent to which students would recommend their college, based on our student survey. This includes questions about whether students would recommend the college to a friend, whether students would choose the same college again if they could start over, and satisfaction with the value for money their college provides.