<p>With regard to Ephman’s antiquated WSJ feeder school citation, and similar per capita based “studies”— not only is it outrageously dated, but also its per capita methodology is clearly bogus with respect to a large and diverse university like Cornell. This is because most prospective students who are choosing between a large university, and a top LAC, are usually applying at Cornell to either Arts & Sciences (CAS), or the College of Engineering. If the “per capita” analysis were applied solely to the relevant college at the university vs. the LAC, then the results would be very different, and would show the larger university in a much better light – apples-to-apples, instead of apples to grapefruit. It is not right for all the unrelated colleges and programs to be aggregated into a “per capita” analysis that is independent of them. (Thanks to monydad for helping me understand this fact.)</p>
<p>Here is an excerpt from monydad’s post that I had meant to highlight in my quote from him above:
</p>