To judge the level of quality at each of the schools in this A+ Schools for B Students list, we first examined two variables: the school's U.S.News & World Report 2011 edition ranking and the average freshman retention rate. Because we believe the U.S. News rankings are a gauge of excellence, National Universities and National Liberal Arts Colleges had to be in the top three quarters of their categories in the 2011 edition of Best Colleges. Regional Universities and Regional Colleges had to be in or slightly below the top half of their categories of the U.S.News & World Report 2011 rankings to be eligible for the A+ Schools for B Students list.
The average freshman retention rate (the percentage of first-year freshmen who returned for their sophomore year) was also calculated for first-year classes entering between 2005 and 2008; schools that made the cut had to bring an average of at least 75 percent of their freshmen back the next fall. This value can be an important indicator of student satisfaction. In addition to being a top-quality school, colleges had to admit a meaningful proportion of non-"A" students. That determination was made by using fall 2009 admissions data that were based on the Critical Reading and Math portions of the SAT or Composite ACT scores and high school class standing. Whether the SAT or ACT was used in making these calculations depended on which score was submitted most often at that school for the fall 2009 entering class admissions decisions.
The rest of the specific screening criteria (which apply to all schools in all ranking categories unless stated otherwise) used to create this year's U.S.News & World Report 2011 edition A+ Schools for B Students' final list of slightly under 300 schools:
· SAT 75th percentile less than or equal to 1,350
· SAT 25th percentile greater than or equal to 980
· ACT 75th percentile less than or equal to 30
· ACT 25th percentile greater than or equal to 20
· Proportion of freshmen from the top 10 percent of their high school class less than or equal to 50 percent (for National Universities and National Liberal Arts only)
· Proportion of freshmen from the top 25 percent of their high school class less than or equal to 80 percent
· Proportion of freshmen from the top 25 percent of their high school class greater than or equal to 40 percent
· Freshman retention rate greater than or equal to 75 percent
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