@emorynavy : What are “resources” again? I don’t remember how USNWR defines them (and am personally opposed to looking them up because I don’t want to give these rankings much energy). I know Emory has a serious faculty compensation struggle that has existed since the recession. The endowment…ehh, it is solid but I suppose post-enrollment growth, the “endowment per student” (a non-sense metric) number has or only increased marginally (other schools with flat enrollment numbers that experienced similar endowment growth will certainly benefit more). I mean I don’t know, I am imagining these would be included in resources, but I am unsure. Also, wasn’t 17-18 ranked? Not 16-17. I thought USNWR ranked the class right before the incoming cohort, which means those numbers could have changed. Many schools are awfully serious about enrolling and admitting with an eye towards these rankings.