Dive Brief:
- An analysis of data for 28,000 high school students who applied to colleges and universities has created a ranking of higher education institutions according to which were most preferred when those students had a choice.
- Most of the top-ranked schools on the list produced by Parchment — which processes high school transcripts for college applications — are frequently highly ranked on other lists, but there are a few surprises, such as the U.S. Air Force Academy at No. 7, the New York Times reports.
- A key lesson from the rankings is that higher ed institutions that offer specialized education or cultural opportunities can have an advantage with prospective students — even over schools that are more selective.
Dive Insight:
Because Parchment’s services are more concentrated in some states than in others, the rankings aren’t entirely representative of all high school student applicants in the U.S. Parchment also offers a tool on its website that allows readers to look at how comparable schools stacked up against each other when applicants had a choice between the two, based on an analysis of 104,119 students who applied to colleges since the 2012-13 school year.
