In The Atlantic Monthly's recently released rankings of the nation's most selective schools, Dartmouth ranked 15th, placing it below every other Ivy League school besides Cornell University.
The Atlantic Monthly gathered data from the United States' "most selective schools" and ranked the 50 most selective based on three statistics: SAT scores, high school class ranks of incoming freshmen and the school's admissions rate.
Atlantic Monthly is the latest competitor in the college ranking business, which U.S. News and World Report dominates. U.S. News ranked Dartmouth ninth on its "America's Best Colleges" list, though Atlantic Monthly compared Dartmouth to a broader range of institutions.
Under the Atlantic Monthly rankings, MIT earned top honors, capturing the number one position, followed by Princeton, Cal Tech, Yale and Harvard. Smaller liberal arts institutions such as Swarthmore and Amherst -- included in a separate ranking by U.S. News -- were included in Atlantic Monthly's overall list, with both schools ranking above Dartmouth.
UC Berkeley and Brown -- schools ranked below Dartmouth by U.S. News -- were each ranked higher by Atlantic Monthly. Washington University in St. Louis, which was co-ranked with Dartmouth at number nine on the U.S. News list, was placed ahead of Dartmouth.
U.S. News and World Report bases its rankings on statistics that include selectivity, peer assessment, retention rate, faculty resources and alumni giving rate.
This is the first year that The Atlantic Monthly has released a college ranking list.
