Our Methodology for School Evaluations

How Do We Evaluate a School?


How We Evaluate a CWe gather or calculate answers for the following 10 questions.  Each question carries one point, otherwise as specially indicated.

  1.  Rankings: Is the school in World’s top 500 or Top 250 National University or top 200 National Liberal Arts Colleges? (Based on info from Schools’ websites)
  2.  College ROI: ROI (Return on Investment) for graduates with bachelor’s degrees.  The data are obtained from U.S. Department of Education.
  3.  Career opportunities: Are the graduates highly sought after by employers (0.35 point); Are the school’s nearby areas offering good job opportunities (o.35 point);  Does the school have good connection with corporate, government units, or companies to provide its students with internship, practical training or job opportunities (o.3 point).
  4.  City Livability: (1) Violent Crime and Property Crime per 1000 people lower than national average (o.2 points); (2) Housing Affordability: (0.2 points); (3) Service and Food Access Index: (0.2 points); (4) The Consumer Price Index for Food (0.2 points); (5) The school is not within HPSA or MUS/P area: that means the school is in or near a place with sufficient health care resources (o.2 points).
  5.  Graduates unemployed rate: lower than %: source U.S. Department of Education
  6.  Best Value: total cost lower than $35K per year for its average students?
  7.  Student to Faculty Ratio: below 15/1?
  8.  Student-related (on/off campus) crimes: Less than 5 for every 1,000 students?
  9.  Funding: Are there FUNDING, GRANTS, and SCHOLARSHIPS available for the school’s average international students?
  10.  Low or no frauds/ripoffs: Less than 10 lawsuit cases or complaints against the school (due to its poor services, lousy academic quality, frauds or scams) in the past 5 years? (0.25 points)
  11.  Fun for living: Student social life (0.20 points); athletic/recreation facilities and sports teams (0.20 points); on-campus housing for international students (o.1 points).
  12.  No agents involved: Does the school work with commission-based study-abroad agents or consultants? (0.25 points)

For Question #12, schools who cooperate with study abroad agents or consultant receive zero points in this category.  When we could not find this answer on a school website, we either email or make a phone to the school’s (international) admission office.

For all questions, each “YES” answer gets one point or the points indicated and each “NO” gets zero.

  • Student Number: U.S. Department of Education or a school’s website.
  • Crime on/off Campus: U.S. Department of Education
  • College’s ROI Data: U.S. Department of Education
  • U.S. Census Bureau
  • City Crime Data: FBI or Police Department of Each City
  • Other sources: Schools’ Websites