Sweet Briar's modest scale offers students some unique opportunities, faculty said. One senior is working as a research assistant on a project to develop diagnostic tools for attention-deficit disorder. At a large research university, these jobs would be offered only to grad students. Admittedly, such a level of academic intimacy comes easier at very small institutions. The survey seems to throw an advantage to these schools, which may limit its value to students who cannot afford a private education.
Few experts believe it's an unfair measure, though.
Kuh said there has been a surge of interest from schools hoping to participate in future surveys and said he hopes that it will become an influential indicator of how well colleges are doing their job. But the survey has its limitations. So there is no plan for the kind of comprehensive, easily digestible ranking system that has proved so popular for U.S. News. Participation in the survey is limited, too, because hundreds of students must be surveyed at each institution. Indeed, many of the universities that routinely dominate the U.S. News rankings, such as the Ivy League schools or California Institute of Technology, have not participated.