Methodology
Methodology
Methodology
Methodology
The magic of CollegeRef begins with a lot of data. The data on 6000+ colleges and universities comes from the U.S. Department of Education`s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Then we eliminated colleges that did not meet certain criteria. Colleges in our search must be:
Primarily academic institutions. Not trade schools, like beauty colleges.
Located within the 50 United States or the District of Columbia.
Awards undergraduate college degrees. Graduate-only institutions removed.
Participates in IPEDS system. No data means no comparison.
Currently operational. Excludes closing/closed institutions.
Accredited by regional accrediting organizations.
Predominantly physical campuses. Online colleges excluded.
Territorial colleges differ too much to compare with mainland ones.
The colleges that remained are the 3000+ institutions that are included in CollegeRef. This gave us a core snapshot of colleges, and especially student demographics, academics, admission standards, and financial data.
But that’s just data and doesn’t say enough about colleges. So we added some additional objective data, including: NCAA division, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal colleges, women’s colleges, military service academies, religious affiliations, non-profit or for-profit status, region/location, and the special educational focuses of colleges.
Next, we brought the secret sauce! The staff have a combined 112 years of service working on college campuses, and while everyone has worked professionally in Admission, three members of the team were Vice Presidents of Admission at colleges and universities that are consistently ranked among the Top 10 in America. We argued about things like, “What are the ‘Southern Ivies’?” and, “How much are Brandeis and Pomona like the NESCAC colleges?” Answers to these questions are subjective, but we came to a consensus and figured out which campus cultures are similar and which ones are dissimilar.
All of this – national data, objective data, and campus culture - resulted in 250+ different metrics. Finally, we had to figure out how much to weigh each of the 250+ metrics so that the results make sense.
The Engineering Team took the data from the Data & Search Engine Team and wrote it into an algorithm, using MYSQL query language. Then the Engineering Team put the search engine into the website using PHP.
There are 3000+ colleges and universities included in CollegeRef! Yet some colleges and universities are not included. In order to be included in CollegeRef, a college must meet all of the requirements in our list.At some point, we may choose to expand our search parameters. There are some fine colleges outside of the 3000+ that were included on this website. But at this time, these terms define which colleges are included in CollegeRef.
Absolutely, for several reasons:
Colleges evolve and change. Their institutional data is evolving, not static.
CollegeRef will continue to add more data sources over time.
CollegeRef will be using Artificial Intelligence and algorithms to make the responses more precise.
Smart people can disagree with each other. You can send us an email and carefully explain what your concern is. We respond to polite and reasonable emails.