Methodology
University Grades
University Apartments computes report-card grades from canonical IPEDS-backed university profile fields. Each school is compared against national benchmark distributions for the same metric.
How Scores Work
The benchmark job converts each available metric into a z-score. Metrics where lower values are better, including acceptance rate, tuition, total cost, and student-faculty ratio, are inverted before weighting.
Category scores are weighted composites across academics, value, diversity, location, campus life, and outcomes. The overall grade is the average of available category z-scores.
Letter Buckets
Schools are ranked within each category. A+ is the top 5%, A is the next 10%, A- is the next 15%, followed by B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, and F for the remaining distribution.