<p>Wesleyan dropped to #17 last year, after it’s admin rate rose to 24% (US News uses two year old data in their rankings, for some reason).</p>
<p>It’s US News admin rate then dropped to 21%, as I recall, this year, so I expected Wes to climb back up a few notches. Must be the accompanying drop in grad rate that kept Wes at #17.</p>
<p>Last year, Wes had almost 11,000 applications, about a 19% admin rate. Recently, Wes has continued to see admin rates fall while rates at other similar schools (Vassar, Amherst, etc.) have stayed stayed constant or risen slightly.</p>
<p>I imagine more students may regard Wes as a good choice going forward, as the odds of admission at places like Pomona and Claremont, etc. (around 13%) come to be seen as insurmountable. A narrowing gap in admit rates would tend to push Wes up in the rankings.</p>
<p>As President Roth’s capital campaign starts to increase the Wesleyan endowment a bit, this may help also.</p>
<p>If the grad rate at Wes can get back to 94% from the current 92%, and these other factors kick in, with a more competitive endowment per student, Wes could be back near (or in) the top 10 in a couple of years.</p>
<p>The grad rate, I think, is key. Fingers crossed.</p>