Methodology: GoLocal’s Super Ranking-Top New England Colleges 2013

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Monday, March 04, 2013

Tracey Minkin, GoLocal Features Editor, with Scott O'Leary

To rank New England's colleges and universities in its super ranking, GoLocal looked to quantify a well-rounded snapshot of each college and university in New England. To do so, GoLocal utilized a combination of rankings derived from national sources, including US News & World Report, the Princeton Review, Forbes Magazine, and Washington Monthly, as well as Inside College, the Daily Beast, and College Prowler.

Researchers captured rankings from the previous two years that were available on each site, noting specific rankings where applicable as well as letter grades on some sites (College Prowler) and yes or no mentions in other venues (Inside College). These rankings, grades and mentions were translated into numerical values based on GoLocal's proprietary formula.

From there, our researchers assessed more than 60 different factors covered by the data, from overall quality rankings both nationally and regionally to rankings for best professors, housing, diversity, nightlife, career preparation, social/academic balance, and of course, food.

GoLocal's proprietary formula gave varying weights to different categories--again, seeking to capture the overall "greatness" of a college or university campus. Performance on national and regional lists for overall quality were highly weighted. Also of higher weight--classroom experiences (including classroom participation and accessibility of professors) as well as quality of life indicators such as living space and food. Each school's performance on these measures was summed and ranked based on value.