Who Was Up + Who Was Down: Super Ranking-Top New England Colleges 2013

Saturday, June 01, 2013

Tracey Minkin, GoLocal Features Editor

The biggest move in GoLocal's 2013 Top New England Colleges rankings goes to Southern New Hampshire University, which jumped from last place in 2012 to #43 in 2013.

GoLocal's 2nd Annual Super Ranking of the Top New England Colleges 2013 not only rendered a fresh and compelling snapshot of the 86 best colleges in the region, but also showed a variety of interesting moves among the schools since last year's ranking.

Shifts at the top

There was substantial changing of places among New England's Top 10, beginning at the very top. The 2012 #1 school, Yale University, traded places with Harvard, which moved up from its 2012 #2 spot to take top prize in 2013. While #3 MIT and #4 Brown held their places for the second year, Dartmouth College moved up from #7 last year to round out the Top 5, knocking Bowdoin College to #6 and Williams College from the #6 spot down a notch to #7.

Small changes in overall rankings among the small and elite colleges resulted in more jostling, as Middlebury jumped two spots from #10 to #8, while Amherst dropped a notch to #9. Wellesley College made its way into the Top 10 for the first time in 2013, up a notch to #10 and sending Colby College out of the Top 10 to #11.

Big movers

Elsewhere in the rankings, though, there were dramatic moves up and down, largely due to schools coming onto or departing from elite national ranking lists such as Forbes or Washington Monthly. Further, a minor drop, out of the top 10% for example, in a national ranking from US News could have significant impact on a school's overall performance.

To see how all 86 Top New England Colleges 2013 ranked, go here.

2013's biggest climbers

Six colleges moved up more than 20 points in the rankings in 2013, beginning with University of Hartford, CT, which bumped up 22 points to a #52 position for 2013. Salve Regina University traded on its beautiful campus and excellent food to jump 23 points to tie with Hartford at #52. In Cambridge, Lesley University made its way into the Top 50 for 2013, jumping 29 points to #47. Another Connecticut-based college, Sacred Heart, climbed 31 points to #36. In Boston, Suffolk University made a bold leap from #66 in 2012 to #31 in 2013--a move of 35 points.

The biggest jump of the year goes to Southern New Hampshire University, which climbed from last place in 2012 at #81 all the way up to #43 in the ranking--a remarkable move of 38 points.

Falling down the ranking

Not all the news was good for some of New England's top colleges, which lost ground to other schools moving up, lost placements in national rankings, or fell from student-rated esteem on quality of life measures. College of the Atlantic, a small and independent-minded college in Bar Harbor, Maine, dropped 24 points in 2013, from #36 to #60. The US Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, also took a substantial hit, dropping from #29 in 2012 down 29 spots to #58 in 2013. The biggest drop of 2013, though, came for Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, which lost 35 spots from its #44 ranking in 2012 to its #79 ranking in 2013.