I’d find this more interesting if it had all winners and all colleges. Also, to me the discussion should more about which colleges are attractive to out-of-the-box high achievers. It isn’t necessarily the college that made them into that.
Not sure about diminishing returns according to US News rankings of top liberal arts colleges, but iconoclastic Hampshire College (unranked by US News) has 3 MacArthur winners.
MacArthur grants have gone to major public university professors as well. Think outside the small LAC box and include schools with so much more to offer. There are many gems in the schools that teach both the elite students and the more general top students. Your list is far too limiting.
Adding Hampshire, Sarah Lawrence, Bennington and Scripps:
Oberlin 11 (#24)
Swarthmore 10 (#4)
Amherst 8 (#2)
Williams 8 (#1)
Wesleyan 6 (#21)
Haverford 4 (#12)
Vassar 4 (#12)
Wellesley 4 (#3)
Pomona 4 (#7)
Carleton 3 (#7)
Hampshire 3 (unranked)
Reed 3 (#87)
Sarah Lawrence 3 (#59)
Grinnell 2 (#19)
Hamilton 2 (#12)
Trinity 2 (#38)
Bates 1 (#27)
Bennington 1 (#90))
Bowdoin 1 (#6)
Connecticut 1 (#50)
Davidson 1 (#9)
Middlebury 1 (#4)
Scripps 1 (#23)
Twenty years or less:
Oberlin 9 (#24)
Swarthmore 7 (#4)
Wesleyan 5 (#21)
Williams 5 (#1)
Amherst 4 (#2)
Carleton 3 (#7)
Vassar 3 (#12)
Wellesley 3 (#3)
Grinnell 2 (#19)
Hampshire 2 (unranked)
Pomona 2 (#7)
Reed 2 (#87)
Bates 1 (#27)
Bowdoin 1 (#6)
Bennington 1 (#90)
Connecticut 1 (#50)
Davidson 1 (#9)
Hamilton 1 (#12)
Haverford 1 (#12)
Middlebury 1 (#4)
Sarah Lawrence 1 (#59)
Scripps 1 (#23)
Trinity 1 (#38)
I understand Reed’s drop in the polls but why is Hampshire unranked. Is it the lack of SAT/ACT scores? Funny I have one at Reed, and was seriously looking at Hampshire as a great match for the other, but Hampshire does not show up in many ranking where colleges are listed.
I was just wondering about this yesterday.
Hampshire no longer accepts SAT/ACT scores. That is the reason USNWR doesn’t list them - Sarah Lawrence was also unranked during the period they didn’t take scores. I have a kid at Hampshire, in her last year, and it has been an amazing place for her (she turned down Reed to go there).
@daisychain happy to hear she loves Hampshire. My Reed kid wanted to stay on the west coast and needed the heavy killer academics. My other needs someplace similar but less…crazy academically intense, and has more freedom of choice.
@LKnomad, Hampshire is a good place for a self motivated kid who creates their own academic intensity and wants the freedom to study what they are interested in.
[Hampshire is facing some serious financial struggles.](Hampshire College faces $2.6m budget deficit this fall - The Boston Globe)