<p>Agree with subtle point of post above…I am a CDS hound, and choose to intrepret the data myself. I assign the weights according to our priorities. USNWR assigns weights in a way that does not work for us (and uses some factors that are irrelevant).</p>
<p>The rankings are fun to look at, everyone says they don’t matter, and then we all proceed to think about them. I look at them in deciles (for admission rates), so moving up or down a few places does not matter.</p>
<p>I also agree that LAC category is not really the best list for military schools, but where else would they go?</p>
<p>For the right price I would go with almost any up to 55 as long as it is a culture fit.</p>
<p>BTW, Rice and WashU do not publish the CDS; my guess is to avoid the chart with students per class size section, which might conflict with their claim of low student to faculty ratio. They may be carrying a lot of non-teaching research faculty which skews that ratio towards the rosy side. But I am certainly not positive, because their CDS is not listed.</p>
<p>Smith has great numbers!</p>