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Christopher Reich ’03 (New Providence, N.J.) earned honors in mathematics and economics & business last month by completing a year-long research project studying the effects of U.S. News and World Report’s rankings on college and university decisions.
Reich graduated magna cum laude and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Epsilon (economics), and Pi Mu Epsilon (mathematics) academic honor societies. He is working in the actuarial field at Chubb Insurance in Warren, N.J.
For his honors thesis, Reich worked under the guidance of Thomas Bruggink, associate professor of economics and business. Bruggink’s research has been published in numerous academic journals and books, including a forthcoming article in International Business and Economics Research Journal, and has been cited in many newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. He is a referee for 11 periodicals, primarily economics journals.
“I examined the effects of U.S. News and World Report’s annual rankings on university pricing policies, allocation of resources, and admissions decisions,” says Reich, who chose this as his thesis topic because the rankings are an issue of great debate. “I also explored the possible difference between public and private universities and between national universities and liberal arts colleges.”
Reich compiled information on approximately 150 colleges and universities over a given number of years.
“If rankings go up, colleges have the opportunity to be more selective in their admissions,” explains Bruggink. “If rankings go up, colleges might find that they can raise their tuition more easily. Chris quantified these relationships by assigning numerical content to the theory. In addition, he saw how the numerical relationships change between large and small schools, as well as public and private schools.
“While some people feel that these rankings are very influential to both prospective students and the colleges themselves, others feel that they are quite worthless,” says Reich. “The idea of using econometric analysis to shed some light on this debate was very interesting to me.”
Bruggink says that overcoming simultaneity bias, or identifying which is the cause and which is the effect, was the most challenging aspect of Reich’s project. Increased selectivity by the college will increase rankings, but higher rankings will allow a college to become more selective. The cause and effect run in both directions.
“Private universities that improved their rankings were able to lower their acceptance rates and raise yields more than liberal arts colleges that improved their rankings,” said Bruggink of Reich’s results. Reich also found that no specific ranking interval within the top 50 rankings is more influential than the rest. “In other words, jumping into the top ten did not have any additional consequence on admission policies than jumping into any other interval,” Bruggink says.
Faculty mentoring of students is an important component of the honors program at Lafayette.
“I think that Lafayette is a good academic environment for projects like my thesis because of the personal relationships that it fosters between the faculty and the students,” says Reich. “I was very pleased to work with Professor Bruggink. He is very knowledgeable on this subject, has a good deal of experience with the honors thesis procedure, and has a very good sense of humor.”
Bruggink says that Reich “was very dedicated and had good work habits. Chris did everything right.”
A Marquis Scholar, Reich trained for the New York City Marathon in November. In addition, he was a fitness supervisor at Lafayette’s Kirby Sports Center and a sportswriter for The Lafayette, the school newspaper.
Chosen from among Lafayette’s most promising applicants, Marquis Scholars receive special financial aid and distinctive educational experiences and benefits, including a three-week, Lafayette-funded study-abroad course during January’s interim session between regular semesters. Marquis Scholars also participate in cultural activities in major cities and on campus, and mentoring programs with Lafayette faculty.