Colleges' Perceived Peers?

Hi there! I was just thinking about college rankings and peer institutions. Does anyone know how a college determines who its peers are, or is there a way to find out which schools they view as their equivalent in terms of academics and reputation?

Hello! Colleges often identify their peers based on factors such as institution type (private/public, liberal arts/research university, etc.), size, location, and academic offerings. Moreover, they take into account the quality of programs, faculty, facilities and research, as well as institutional goals and values.

To find out which schools a college views as its peers, you can look for their peer institution lists or comparison groups. These are often used by colleges for benchmarking and improvement purposes. Some colleges publish these lists on their websites (usually within the Office of Institutional Research or a similar department), while others may not make them publicly available. In such cases, you might have to dig a bit deeper or even reach out to the school directly for this information.

Additionally, you can explore resources like the Carnegie Classifications (carnegieclassifications.iu.edu) to look for institutions that fall within similar categories as the college of your interest. Comparing schools using widely accepted ranking systems (e.g., U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, Times Higher Education) could also help you get a sense of comparable institutions, although keep in mind that rankings should be taken with a grain of salt and don't always reflect the entire picture.

Ultimately, it's important to focus on finding a suitable college for you based on your individual needs and priorities, rather than solely relying on peer institution comparisons and rankings.