If you read closely, you’ll see that Amherst didn’t pick anyone, so the government chose for them. It’s the only one in this group that failed to name peers.
That explains it. That list made little sense for Amherst.
I think it’s hilarious that Pomona didn’t pick a single other Claremont College.
Yet they named Trinity College, which is a great school, but I don’t see the overlap.
And Trinity did not list Pomona.
I think that’s a really interesting observation and I wonder how much it may have to do with Pomona’s “origin story” as a western outpost of the small New England colleges?
When universities pick peer institutions, it’s not generally about the vibes though.
I think that it’s because the different Claremont Colleges are supposed to be different, and having them as being interchangeable defeats the purpose of there being five different colleges.
So what’s it about in this case? If they chose 15-20, I might see the overlap. But they only chose seven. I’m interested in your thoughts.
I think my point is just twofold:
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I stand by Wesleyan and Bates being more alike than different among NESCAC schools. But I don’t need to talk about it any longer.
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When schools choose peer instititutions, they are trying to find schools with which they have something in common or aspire to be like. But that doesn’t mean that their target audience for students is the same. “Peer institutions” aren’t fixed and it isn’t a scientific process. The school chooses other schools that serve a purpose for a specific benchmark or accreditation process.
In the category of random rankings on a boring Tuesday morning, 3 NESCAC schools were cited amongst the top 9 (why stop there?) athletic facilities on this list.
I initially questioned the conference having only three schools on a list of 9 given how well NESCAC performs in athletic competition across the board. But an internet search of athletic facilities images at some of these places kind of put the matter to rest. RPI, as one example, has a shockingly large and impressive football stadium for a D3 school (see below). Ithaca College has a very nice athletic facility as well.
It’s amazing that Tufts made the list with that ancient pool! Colby’s new complex is indeed wow.
No surprise that Williams does not appear on this list ![]()
This should improve the situation! MRC nears January opening – The Williams Record
The new Williams MRC is open! My track and field kid is pretty darn pleased not to be training outside in the Berkshire winter.
Horrible track facilities
Three lanes?
Dude.
Would have been smarter to put a proper 6 lane track in and rent it out for revenue. Can’t be that many other (good) indoor tracks around there.
My favorite athletic facilities are at Kenyon, at least in terms of design.
For those interested, this list includes hybrid athletics programs. The ice hockey teams of RPI and SLU compete in Division I. As do JHU’s lacrosse teams.
I don’t disagree, but my understanding is that, long term, this building is supposed to be more general/for the student body and was built with that in mind. That still leaves the plan to purpose-build a competitive indoor track on the site of the former field house that would be less “indoor gym for the students” and more competitive sports facility. In the meantime though, any ability to train indoors in Jan/Feb/March is welcome.
So that’s been discussed/in the works?

