<p>With respect to the comment above, both the Ph.D undergrad origin lists and the faculty productivity list you propose are proxys for undergrad excellence. But they are just that proxys… I certainly don’t think the faculty productivity measure is any better indicator of quality (in fact, I think it’s worse, but I’m willing to concede that reasonable minds may differ). </p>
<p>Faculty productivity tells you about levels of research being done, but often the most productive scholars aren’t spending lots of time in the classroom. They leave the teaching to grad students and sometimes other professors. So, I would contend that faculty productivity doesn’t tell you a great deal about the quality of undergraduate education. (Although it probably speaks more to gradute education.)</p>
<p>I think PH.D production tells you more than just “that those schools attract people who have a greater tendency to pursue higher degrees of education.” Ph.D programs are competitive and can attract the best students (combination of innate intelligence and undergrad preparation), so the fact that certain schools produce lost of Ph.D. students does tell you something about the quality of the program. In other words, Ph.D. programs are consumers and they pick from the best programs.</p>
<p>According to the lists posted by vossron, it seems that elite LACs like Harvey Mudd, Haverford, Reed and a few others which top both of the above lists are worthy of consideration as “best departments for undergraduate studies.” Especially b/c those schools have extensive resources (among the nation’s highest per student endowment figures) providing an “abundance of undergraduate research internships/opportunities,” high quality labs, best educated professors, etc. In addition, b/c they focus solely on undergrad education, I’d argue that they do it even better (no distraction from grad students).</p>
<p>Again, reasonable minds can differ. These are all sources of information, and Some of us are just saying one would be wise to consider certain LACs in addition to major research universities.</p>