Why is Pitzer ranked so low?

College Search & Lists
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Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone could fill me in as to why Pitzer College continues to rank so low across the usual ranking lists (US News, Forbes, WSJ). I mean low compared to the rest of the 5Cs. Given its selectivity (16%-18% acceptance rate), high average GPA, and relatively high SAT, along with having all of the resources from the other Claremonts at its disposal, how is it possible that it continues to fall far behind the other Claremont schools? Its even part of the Keck Science Program, which is able to provide the same quality of science education as Scripps and CMC, so how can it continue to stay low (relatively) in the rankings? Thanks for any help!

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I would not give the rankings a second thought. If the school is affordable and the right fit then go for it.

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Thanks for your reply, I really do appreciate it. But I really am just confused as to why it is ranked so low. Its bothering me.

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I told my kids…the only ranking that mattered was the one that they made. I’m not sure why this is bothering you so much.

If ranking is that important to you, go to a different college with a higher rank.

But really, what you should be doing is looking at what a college has to offer you…not their USNew ranking.

My opinion.

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I think all rankings are flawed. My D25 is looking at environmental studies/science programs. Pomona and Pitzer are on all of the top lists for ES and Scripps is not. The major is literally a 5 college major. They should not differ.

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As an opinion, however, if a student is seriously concerned about the actual environment, rather than merely the study of it, she will appreciate Pitzer, in particular, for its commitment to xeriscaping.

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In another thread you noted that “I can’t help but feel that the culture there isn’t a great fit for me.” and asked about transferring within the consortium. Transfers within the Claremont College Consortium IMO fit is very important, particularly in a LAC, and you cannot assume a transfer will work. I’d suggest thinking hard about your other fine options which in another post are Colgate, Occidental, and Northeastern. Help me choose! Colgate vs Northeastern vs Pitzer vs Occidental [pre-med] All options would work fine for a pre-med student.

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I guess I would question the premise. Pitzer is ranked #39 (tied) currently by USNews. Scripps is #35 (tied), so not really a material difference. You could pay to see exactly what happened, but I assume it is going to be something relatively trivial.

OK, but why then are Pomona, CMC, and Harvey Mudd higher? Well, I am not willing to pay, but back in 2018 (so this is a while ago) an unlocked peer and counselor reputation spreadsheet showed them at (peer/counselor/total):

Harvey Mudd 4.4/4.6/9.0
Pomona 4.4/4.4/8.8
CMC 4.2/4.5/8.7
Scripps 3.8/4.3/8.1
Pitzer 3.7/4.2/7.9

There is enough variability in all this that I would say Pitzer and Scripps are again about the same, but then Pomona, CMC, and Harvey Mudd are in a higher tier.

Why? That is a very complicated question, but I think it is really because in their own ways Pomona, CMC, and Harvey Mudd have all distinguished themselves in certain ways that Pitzer has not. Like, per capita, Pomona is a top 10ish feeder to academicky stuff, Pitzer is not. CMC is a top 5ish feeder to businessy stuff, Pitzer is not. And Harvey Mudd is a top 5ish feeder to techy stuff, Pitzer is not.

So I think that is why Pitzer (and Scripps, about which I could say the same things) are not in the same reputational tier as Pomona, CMC, and Harvey Mudd. It is not that Scripps and Pitzer did something wrong per se, but it is very competitive to get a lot higher reputationally. And Pomona, CMC, and Harvey Mudd have each been able to compete for those higher reputations, in their own individual ways.

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This was very fun to read. Thank you for such a thoughtful and funny response

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It’s not that complicated: Pitzer has the smallest endowment and probably the smallest endowment per student of the Claremont colleges. And as wasteful as it may sound, I have yet to see a magazine ranking system that doesn’t to one degree or another penalize a college for not outspending its competition:

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