<p>^ A 50% graduation rate is a fairly low threshold for quality. I’d bump it up to, say, 70%. To get different perspectives on quality, you can click-sort on the columns for median scores, student expenditures, or admit rates (assuming you’ve included those criteria in your search). If you export to an Excel spreadsheet, you can sort on more than one criteria (a primary + secondary key).</p>
<p>If you really want a LAC, specify “Bac/A&S” as the Carnegie Classification (maybe add Doctoral/Research if you want to look for small universites, too).</p>
<p>Below are my own results for Locale = City Large,City Midsize,City Small; College Size between 1000 and 5000; Carnegie Classification = Doctoral/Research,Bac/A & S; Student Related Expenditures / Total FTE between 20000 and 250000; Composite Mediat SAT/ACT Score between 1300 and 1600; Percent Admitted between 5 and 50; 6-Year Grad Rate between 70 and 100. The USNWR “rank” is shown in parens for comparison:</p>
<p>Wesleyan University (12)
Vassar College (14)
Barnard College (33)
Macalester College (25)
Connecticut College (37)
Colorado College (27)
Reed College (57)</p>
<p>[College</a> Results Online](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/search2d.aspx?l=2,3,4&is1=1000&is2=5000&car=5,8&sre1=20000&sre2=250000&sat1=1300&sat2=1600&pad1=5&pad2=50&grr=Total&grg=Total&gryrt=3&gr1=70&gr2=100&y=2009]College”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/search2d.aspx?l=2,3,4&is1=1000&is2=5000&car=5,8&sre1=20000&sre2=250000&sat1=1300&sat2=1600&pad1=5&pad2=50&grr=Total&grg=Total&gryrt=3&gr1=70&gr2=100&y=2009)</p>
<p>6-year grad rate seems to be the default sort key. I’m not sure that’s the best quality indicator. Personally, I’d rank Reed at or near the top for academics. If you lower the SAT floor a bit (to 1250), you’ll pick up Holy Cross, Trinity, Richmond, Occidental and Rhodes.</p>