The Smith College network
A video-game skill tree: every level up is one more thing a school does better.
MA
3 colleges with a similar mix of majors, each also teaching social sciences, biological & biomedical sciences, and psychology, are the same or better on all of yield, graduation rate, cost. That's fewer than 20: few schools like this one beat it on every count.
See it as a table
| College | Size | Yield | Graduation rate | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smith College (your pick) | 2,549 | 35% | 89% | $86,030 |
| Middlebury College | 2,760about the same size | 44%better | 91%same | $85,880same |
| Williams College | 2,11583% as many undergrads | 43%better | 94%better | $84,860same |
| Wesleyan University | 3,8051.5× as many undergrads | 35%same | 93%better | $89,020same |
From IPEDS, academic year 2024-25 (sticker prices from the year before where this year's are not out yet). “Similar mix of majors” means close on the degrees students finish, subject by subject, and on how many. Only colleges a student choosing Smith College would also weigh are counted: each must award at least 1% of its bachelor's degrees in every one of Smith College's 3 largest subjects; a special-focus school (a conservatory, art school, seminary, or the like) is compared only with schools of the same focus; and colleges with a strong religious mission are compared only with each other. Yield and graduation rate count as the same when they are less than 4 points apart; sticker price when it is within 10%. Better cost means cheaper. Sticker price is before financial aid, and for public colleges is the average of the in-state and out-of-state prices.