While the cumulative rankings compiled by U.S. News are practically useless in choosing a college, some of the individual numbers are useful, as you will read in this new whitepaper.
One useful number, used to rank National Research Universities, big public and private schools, as well as National Liberal Arts Colleges, schools that enroll more than half of their students in liberal arts subjects, is the difference between the Predicted Six Year Graduation Rate and the Actual Six-Year Graduation Rate.
The difference between these two numbers, according to business journalist and best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell, is a school’s efficacy. Efficacy, Gladwell says, is the measure of the impact that a school has upon its students from the date they enter until the date they leave.
The Predicted Rate, according to Gladwell, is based upon the socioeconomic characteristics of the freshman class, as well as grades and test scores. Schools that have large numbers of well-prepared students from well-to-do families will have high predicated rates.
For example, the Predicted Graduation Six-Year Rate for Harvard, U.S. News’ top research university, for the freshmen entering in the fall of 2004 was 94 percent. The actual graduation rate was 97 percent.The difference, plus 3, is the impact that Harvard had upon those students in guiding them towards a degree. Had the difference been zero, one might wonder if a Harvard-bound student might be better off signing in and taking a diploma before they attended a single class.
However, there are many schools that have greater efficacy than Harvard, meaning that the sum total of student services and academics had a major impact on a graduating class. Sometimes, as you will learn in this whitepaper, the difference can be quite meaningful.
The number one school among the big universities? Penn State; it’s efficacy was plus-14.
Find out why in this whitepaper. You’ll also learn the efficacy for eight other schools that have been visited by Educated Quest. Check out this whitepaper now.