<p>idad - point of clarification - Reed was ranked #53 in last year’s US News, on par with Kalamazoo & Beloit.
See: <a href=“http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/directory/brief/drglance_3217_brief.php[/url]”>http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/directory/brief/drglance_3217_brief.php</a>
<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/libartco/tier1/t1libartco_brief.php[/url]”>http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/libartco/tier1/t1libartco_brief.php</a></p>
<p>Not that the rankings mean anything, as you have pointed out. But Reed has never been listed anywhere near the “top” - last year’s top 5 were Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Wellesley and Carleton.</p>
<p>Reed does complete the common data set and that information is readily available on the web site. Most of US News data comes from the CDS - so with or without participation, US News has most of the numbers it needs. Reed probably falls down somewhat because of factors like its lower freshman retention and graduation rate. But the list doesn’t make much sense in any case. Garbage in, garbage out.</p>