Southwestern University
09/24/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 09/24/2024 07:05
Southwestern University Continues Historic Rise in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges List
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Southwestern University Continues Historic Rise in U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges List
SU checks in at #83 in U.S. News & World Report's 2025 Best National Liberal Arts Colleges list, an extraordinary 19-spot improvement from just four years ago.
September 24, 2024
Andrew Felts
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Southwestern University
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Southwestern University
2018. Jason Risner Photography
Southwestern continues its rapid rise in theU.S. News & World Report's annual list of Best National Liberal Arts Colleges. The University checks in at #83 on the 2025 list, the second-highest spot of any liberal arts school in Texas.
The honor marks Southwestern's highest ranking by the publication since 2014 and a jump of six spots from the University's 2024 rating. Since President Laura Skandera Trombley joined Southwestern, the University has improved from its lowest-ever ranking of #102 in 2021, up to #83 this year, reflecting her impactful leadership. The 19-spot climb in just four years is rare in theU.S. News & World Reportlist.
Southwestern's ranking has steadily improved as the University's largest and most ambitious construction plan in school history comes to fruition. Led by President Trombley's vision, over $120 million in active construction projects are enhancing the physical landscape of Texas' first university. Additionally, the upcoming Southwestern University 560 development is an unprecedented project that blends art, experiential learning, and sustainable living to create a unique environment that enhances the quality of life for students, faculty, staff, and the surrounding community.
In their 2025 rankings,U.S. News & World Report also lauded Southwestern for being a Best Value School among liberal arts colleges, finishing #3 in Texas and #56 in the nation on the list. In the publication's fifth-annual Top Performers in Social Mobility list, Southwestern ranked #2 in Texas and #81 in the nation, jumping 43 spots from the University's national rating in the category a year ago.
For their social mobility rankings,U.S. News & World Report has placed greater weight on the outcome measures of quality for students receiving Pell Grants. Students receiving Pell Grants come from households with family incomes less than $50,000 annually. Factors that directly relate to social mobility include graduation rates, retention rates, graduate indebtedness, graduate earnings compared with earnings of high school graduates, and graduation rate performance.
Using a wide range of data sources,U.S. News & World Report analysts and editors calculated more than 80 Best Colleges rankings, all with the intent of enabling students and their families to identify colleges that best meet their needs. The rankings highlight colleges that excel in such areas as value, social mobility, teaching, veterans' needs, HBCUs, and in six academic disciplines (Business, Computer Science, Engineering, Nursing, Economics and Psychology).
Southwestern is categorized as a National Liberal Arts College (NLAC) based on the Carnegie Basic Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Other classifications include National Universities, which offer graduate programs, Regional Universities (North, South, Midwest, and West), and Regional Colleges (also sorted into North, South, Midwest, and West lists). NLACs include private and public institutions that focus almost exclusively on undergraduate education and award at least 50 percent of their degrees in the arts and sciences. The editors of the popular college guidebook classify schools to compare schools with similar missions more fairly.
U.S. News and World Reportassesses colleges and universities based on varying measures of academic excellence, such as admissions selectivity, student retention, average class size, per-student spending, the strength of the faculty, graduation rates, alumni employment outcomes, and alumni giving. It also ranks schools in categories such as first-year experiences, internships, learning communities, service-learning, study abroad, undergraduate research and creative projects, senior capstones, and writing in the disciplines. Unlike other college-ranking organizations, they do not rely on opinions garnered from residence hall tours, student polls, or recruiter interviews. The publication has been ranking colleges and universities since 1983.