20131001 BH Report: US Higher Education Comps

1. BH Report: US Higher Education Comps
2013/10/1

2. Context
•This report is put together on behalf of a friend of mine, a European who is now in recruiting position for a top-tier company in the US
•Never having revived higher education in the US, he was struggling with the names of schools... simply put, he could not really calibrate his expectations for different candidates based on schools (which is the first point of consideration for any recruiting process)
•I tried to help him in couple occasions, telling him everything I knew about certain names, but I quickly realized that my own understanding of US higher education & how schools stack up against each other in terms of key metrics (admission rate, test scores, etc.) was quite lacking beyond my own school + couple other schools
–This is mainly because there are SO many schools, and that even the top 100 schools only account for ~12% of new student enrollment
•Through the conversation with him, we put together a dataset on ~2,300 higher education institutions, segmented these institutions based on publicly available school rankings, and analyzed how below metrics differ among the segments: (1) admission rate, (2) enrollment rate, (3) SAT score, (4) graduation rate, (5) professor salary, (6) tuition

3. How many people? How many schools?
In 2012, ~1.6 million people1
... submitted total of ~9 million applications
(on average, 6 applications per person)
... to ~2,300 higher education institutions
1. Assumed that everyone who applied at least enrolled in some institution in the end; this number may be larger if there is non-trivial number of people who applied, but did not enroll into any institutions
Source: IPEDS data center

4. Which are the top 100 institutions in US? (according to Forbes1 ... other rankings included in appendix)
•Stanford University
•Pomona College
•Princeton University
•Yale University
•Columbia University in the City of New York
•Swarthmore College
•United States Military Academy
•Harvard University
•Williams College
•Massachusetts Institute of Technology
•University of Pennsylvania
•Brown University
•Amherst College
•University of Chicago
•Duke University
•Dartmouth College
•Northwestern University
•California Institute of Technology
•Cornell University
•Bowdoin College
•Washington and Lee University
•University of California-Berkeley
•Wellesley College
•University of Notre Dame
•Tufts University
•Georgetown University
•Vassar College
•United States Naval Academy
•University of Virginia-Main Campus
•University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
•United States Air Force Academy
•Davidson College
•Rice University
•University of California-Los Angeles
•Boston College
•Colgate University
•Vanderbilt University
•University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
•Wesleyan University
•Bryn Mawr College
•Middlebury College
•Carnegie Mellon University
•Haverford College
•College of William and Mary
•Carleton College
•Johns Hopkins University
•Hamilton College
•Lafayette College
•Colby College
•Oberlin College
•Brandeis University
•Harvey Mudd College
•University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
•Barnard College
•University of Washington-Seattle Campus
•New York University
•Washington University in St Louis
•Union College
•Smith College
•Wake Forest University
•University of Rochester
•Whitman College
•University of Southern California
•Grinnell College
•Reed College
•The University of Texas at Austin
•Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
•University of Wisconsin-Madison
•Kenyon College
•Lehigh University
•College of the Holy Cross
•Santa Clara University
•University of Maryland-College Park
•University of Florida
•Brigham Young University-Provo
•Colorado College
•George Washington University
•Trinity College
•Villanova University
•Centre College
•Southern Methodist University
•Macalester College
•Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus
•Mount Holyoke College
•Boston University
•Franklin and Marshall College
•Virginia Military Institute
•University of Richmond
•Case Western Reserve University
•University of Georgia
•Sewanee-The University of the South
•DePauw University
•Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
•United States Coast Guard Academy
•Scripps College
•University of California-Santa Barbara
•Indiana University-Bloomington
•Wheaton College
•University of California-Davis
•Pepperdine University
Top 1-10
Top 11-25
Top 26-50
Top 51- 100
1. There are millions of rankings published by different guys. I selected Forbes for the purpose of the research simply because it had a long list & included both universities and liberal arts in a single list

5. How is # of students distributed (1)?
% of applications, by school ranks % of enrollment, by school ranks
8.7%
3.6% 4.6% 2.4%
80.7%
0
100
80
60
40
20
Top
26-50
Top
11-25
Top
51-100
%
Top
1-10
Below
top 100
88.3%
7.0%
0.7% 1.5% 2.5%
0
100
80
60
40
20
Top
26-50
Top
11-25
Top
51-100
%
Top
1-10
Below
top 100
Source: IPEDS data center; Forbes
~19% ~12%
Top 100 schools only represent ~19% of applications
and ~12% of enrollments

6. How is # of students distributed (2)?
Size rank
Name
Forbes ranking
Enrollment
% Enrollment
1
Arizona State University
101+
9,254
0.6%
2
Michigan State University
101+
8,354
0.5%
3
Texas A & M University-College Station
101+
8,143
0.5%
4
The University of Texas at Austin
66
8,092
0.5%
5
Indiana University-Bloomington
97
7,613
0.5%
6
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
93
7,366
0.5%
7
University of Arizona
101+
7,300
0.5%
8
Ohio State University-Main Campus
101+
7,215
0.5%
9
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
53
6,921
0.4%
10
University of Missouri-Columbia
101+
6,501
0.4%
11
Purdue University-Main Campus
101+
6,476
0.4%
12
The University of Alabama
101+
6,397
0.4%
13
University of Florida
74
6,289
0.4%
14
Rutgers University-New Brunswick
101+
6,170
0.4%
15
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
30
6,148
0.4%
16
University of Central Florida
101+
6,082
0.4%
17
University of Wisconsin-Madison
68
5,828
0.4%
18
University of California-Los Angeles
34
5,825
0.4%
19
University of Washington-Seattle Campus
55
5,788
0.4%
20
Florida State University
101+
5,738
0.4%
Top 20 total
137,500
8.6%
Top 20 institutions with largest enrollment
Even top 20 largest schools (which are pretty much all state schools) represent less than 10% of enrollment
Source: IPEDS data center; Forbes

7. How tough to get in?
% admission rate
Below bars show the range between top 10% and bottom 10% of the institutions
7%
100
0
60
80
40
20
Below
top 100
95%
43%
Top
51-100
63%
22%
Top
26-50
34%
15%
%
Top
11-25
23%
11%
Top
1-10
14%
Source: IPEDS data center; Forbes
Observations
• Not surprisingly, it is harder to get into
higher ranked institutions
• Even within the same bucket of school
ranks, the variations between top 10
and bottom 10% are large (~2-3x)

8. How fierce is competition among institutions?
% enrollment rate
(% of admitted students who actually enrolled)
Below bars show the range between top 10% and bottom 10% of the institutions
80
100
60
40
20
0
54%
38%
Top
1-10
84%
41%
51%
31%
Top
11-25
%
Below
top 100
90%
20%
Top
51-100
50%
20%
Top
26-50
Observations
• In general, % enrollment rate is not
that high (implying that many students
apply to multiple institutions and
receive multiple acceptance)
– It must be tough for the
institutions to accurately forecast
how many students will actually
enroll... no wonder why they like
phased admission process
• Variation is quite large at top 1-10
institutions (84% vs. 41%) ... this is
probably because of the high
probability of cross-offers to "good
candidates"
Source: IPEDS data center; Forbes

9. Test scores?
SAT score (Math + Critical reading) of
25th %-tile student
Below bars show the range between top 10% and bottom 10% of the institutions
Observations
• General tendency of higher test scores
for higher ranked schools – but the
difference/tendency is not definitive
for top 100 institutions
– Top 1-10 and 11-25 virtually the
same (i.e., should have on average
~650-700 scores for both Math
and Critical Reading)
– Top end of top 26-50 institutions
higher than lower end of top 1-25
institutions
1500
1000
500
0
Score
Below
top 100
1070
790
Top
51-100
1270
1090
Top
26-50
1332
1190
Top
11-25
1392
1294
Top
1-10
1410
1294
Source: IPEDS data center; Forbes

10. How easy to graduate?
% graduation rate
Below bars show the range between top 10% and bottom 10% of the institutions
Observations
• I was surprised to see that graduation
rate is higher for higher ranked
institutions (as I previously thought it
was tougher to get through)
• This is probably because of the self-selection
(i.e., only people who are
likely to complete the program get
admitted)
• Top 100 institutions are more or less
the same, but the figures for below
top 100 institutions is startling...
0
20
40
60
80
100
%
Below
top 100
77%
26%
Top
51-100
90%
78%
Top
26-50
93%
87%
Top
11-25
96%
90%
Top
1-10
97%
92%
Source: IPEDS data center; Forbes

11. How well paid are the professors?
Average professor salary
Below bars show the range between top 10% and bottom 10% of the institutions
Observations
• As I heard previously, professor salary
is pretty good, and the gap between
higher ranked/ lower ranked school is
not as big as I expected, meaning...
• ... professors are better paid by top
institutions
– About 2x if compare average of
top 1-10 vs. below top 100
• ... however, the lower end of top 1-10
schools is not much higher than the
higher end of below top 100 schools
50
150
200
100
0
Top
11-25
178
136
Top
1-10
195
129
$K
Below
top 100
112
53
Top
51-100
144
95
Top
26-50
159
113
Source: IPEDS data center; Forbes

12. How expensive?
Tuition1
Below bars show the range between top 10% and bottom 10% of the institutions
Observations
• In general, higher education is
expensive, and this does not differ by
much by school ranks
– Top end in any of the top 100
school rank buckets ends up being
around ~$45K p.a.
– Top end of below top 100
institutions is still very expensive
(~$33K)
• Really, the only "bargain" is if one
receives scholarship OR if one goes to
state school and pays in-state tuition
10
0
50
20
30
40
36
33
31
45
Top
51-100
44
Below
top 100
28
11
Top
26-50
$K
Top
11-25
45
41
Top
1-10
45
1. Based on out-of-state tuition for state schools for fair comparison purposes Source: IPEDS data center; Forbes

13. Appendix

14. Other top higher education rankings
•Princeton University
•Harvard University
•Yale University
•Columbia University
•Stanford University
•University of Chicago
•Duke University
•Massachusetts Institute of Technology
•University of Pennsylvania
•California Institute of Technology
•Dartmouth College
•Johns Hopkins University
•Northwestern University
•Brown University
•Washington University in St. Louis
•Cornell University
•Vanderbilt University
•Rice University
•University of Notre Dame
•Emory University
•Georgetown University
•University of California– Berkeley
•Carnegie Mellon University
•University of California– Los Angeles
•University of Southern California
•University of Virginia
•Wake Forest University
•Tufts University
•University of Michigan– Ann Arbor
•University of North Carolina– Chapel Hill
•Boston College
•Brandeis University
•College of William and Mary
•New York University
•University of Rochester
•Georgia Institute of Technology
•Case Western Reserve University
•Pennsylvania State University– University Park
•University of California– Davis
•University of California– San Diego
•Boston University
•Lehigh University
•Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
•University of California– Santa Barbara
•University of Illinois– Urbana- Champaign
•University of Wisconsin– Madison
•University of Miami
•Yeshiva University
•Northeastern University
•University of California– Irvine
US News
(University ranking)
US News
(Liberal Arts College ranking)
Business Insider
•Williams College
•Amherst College
•Swarthmore College
•Bowdoin College
•Middlebury College
•Pomona College
•Carleton College
•Wellesley College
•Claremont McKenna College
•Davidson College
•Haverford College
•United States Naval Academy
•Vassar College
•Hamilton College
•Washington and Lee University
•Harvey Mudd College
•Grinnell College
•United States Military Academy
•Wesleyan University
•Colgate University
•Smith College
•Bates College
•Colby College
•Macalester College
•College of the Holy Cross
•Oberlin College
•Scripps College
•United States Air Force Academy
•University of Richmond
•Bryn Mawr College
•Colorado College
•Barnard College
•Bucknell University
•Kenyon College
•Pitzer College
•Lafayette College
•Trinity College
•Bard College
•Mount Holyoke College
•Sewanee– University of the South
•Occidental College
•Soka University of America
•Union College
•Whitman College
•Connecticut College
•Dickinson College
•Franklin and Marshall College
•Skidmore College
•Centre College
•Denison University
•Massachusetts Institute of Technology
•Stanford University
•Harvard University
•Yale University
•Princeton University
•California Institute of Technology
•Columbia University
•Dartmouth College
•University of Pennsylvania
•Cornell University
•United States Naval Academy
•Johns Hopkins University
•United States Military Academy
•University of Chicago
•Duke University
•University of California - Berkeley
•Brown University
•Carnegie Mellon University
•Northwestern University
•Georgetown University
•University of Michigan — Ann Arbor
•University of Virginia
•University of Notre Dame
•Georgia Institute of Technology
•New York University
•University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill
•Williams College
•Vanderbilt University
•Rice University
•Amherst College
•University of California — Los Angeles
•Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
•Emory University
•Harvey Mudd College
•Washington University in St. Louis
•Wellesley College
•Swarthmore College
•Tufts University
•Boston College
•University of Southern California
•College of William & Mary
•MIddlebury College
•University of Wisconsin — Madison
•Colgate University
•Vassar College
•Wesleyan University
•Bowdoin College
•Wake Forest University
•University of California — Davis
•Davidson College

15. Disclaimer
This document is provided for general information only and nothing contained in the material constitutes a recommendation for the purchase or sale of any security. Although the statements of fact in this report are obtained from sources that I consider reliable, I do not guarantee their accuracy and any such information may be incomplete or condensed. Views are subject to change on the basis of additional or new research, new facts or developments.