How are Ivy League Schools Ranked?

I'm starting to focus on applications and I'm curious how Ivy League schools stack up against each other. Is it purely academic, or do other factors play a part in their rankings?

Ivy League schools are usually ranked based on a variety of factors, not just academic ones. Factors considered usually include:

1. Undergraduate academic reputation: This largely depends on peer assessments amongst high-level administrators at other schools (deans of admissions and presidents) and, to a lesser extent, on high school guidance counselors' assessments.

2. Student selectivity: This usually takes into account admission rates, the percentage of students who graduated in the top 10% of their high school class, and the standardized test scores of enrolled students.

3. Faculty resources: These are determined by considering factors like class size, faculty salary, proportion of faculty that is full-time, and student-faculty ratio.

4. Graduation and retention rates: This criterion involves the overall graduation rate and the freshman retention rate.

5. Financial resources per student: This refers to the funding a college spends on teaching each student.

6. Alumni giving rate: The percentage of alumni who donate back to the school can indicate satisfaction with the college experience.

To give you an example in context, let's consider the Ivy League school, Harvard University. It's often ranked highly due to its prestige, rigorous academic programs, faculty resources, low student-to-faculty ratio, and huge endowment, which allows for extensive research opportunities.

However, students need to understand that these rankings should be used as a guide to help in the decision-making process. They should also consider other factors that are important to their college experience such as location, campus culture, availability of extracurricular activities that align with their interests, etc., because what may be a top-ranked school might not be the best fit for every student.