U.S. News considers only student characteristics (as estimated by HS class standing and standardized scoring profiles) for its selectivity ranks. For example, Smith (#12) gets a boost from enrolling 75% of its students from the top 10% of their HS classes (to the extent that data are available for this figure) compared to Wesleyan (#19), which enrolls 67% from the top 10%. Because of this approach, some of the placements will appear counter-intuitive to those who (with justification) would include acceptance rates in the formula as well. For reference, the ranks as posted up-topic were taken directly from the current print edition of USN’s college guide.