Highlights of popular rankings
U.S. News & World Report
#43 among national liberal arts colleges
Sewanee was also on the separate lists of “Best Undergraduate Teaching,” “Most Innovative Schools,” “Top Performers on Social Mobility,” and “Best Value Schools.”
U.S. News primarily ranks institutions based on reputation (peer assessment) and inputs (data regarding each freshman class, university financial resources, etc.) rather than on outcomes, although this emphasis has begun to shift. A school’s ranking can move up or down several places from year to year, even with little to no change in the school’s actual point total.
Forbes “America’s Top Colleges”
#61 in Liberal Arts Universities
Forbes says of its list, “Whether a school is in the Top 10 or near the bottom of the list, these 650 count as the best in the country.”
And Sewanee is #52 in “Grateful Grads 2019—200 Colleges With The Happiest, Most Successful Alumni.” Says Forbes, “At its core, the goal of most colleges is to produce happy and successful graduates who give back. So instead of crunching the usual ROI metrics—like employment statistics, salaries, and job placement stats—Forbes developed a proprietary ranking we call the Grateful Graduates Index.”
Princeton Review
One of the best 385 Colleges & Best Southeastern
#8 most beautiful campuS
#19 best career services
Sewanee was named one of the “Best 385 Colleges” (Princeton Review does not rank schools). Sewanee was also on the list of “Green Colleges.”
"We picked the 385 'best' colleges for our book primarily for their outstanding academics; we highly recommend each one," said Robert Franek, the Princeton Review's editor-in-chief and the book's lead author.
MONEY magazine
SEWANEE RANKED thirD IN TENNESSEE IN “BEST COLLEGES FOR YOUR MONEY”
MONEY drew on the research and advice of top experts on education quality, financing, and value to develop its analysis of more than 2,400 colleges and universities. A total of 744 of the nation’s best-performing colleges made up the magazine’s final list. Schools were ranked based on 26 factors in three categories: quality of education, affordability, and outcomes.
College Consensus
#47 nationally among “best liberal arts colleges”
#28 among the 100 “best small colleges” (fewer than 2,000 students)
#2 in Tennessee
#8 among the Best Mountain Colleges (“top ranked schools for outdoor enthusiasts”)
#9 among the Most Beautiful Campuses in the Fall (“we don’t pretend this is an objective ranking, but every college on the Most Beautiful College Campuses ranking has earned its place.”)
College Consensus is an aggregate ranking that brings together data from college ranking sites like Forbes, Wallethub, and U.S. News & World Report, plus student review sites like Cappex and Niche. All of a school’s rankings make up the Publisher Rating, and all of the student reviews form the Student Review Rating; the Consensus Rating is the average of the two.
College Raptor
Named a 2020 "Hidden Gem"
Sewanee was named a 2020 "Hidden Gem" among colleges in the U.S., in the Southeast, and with the lowest average federal student loan debt.
College Raptor is a mobile-first college planning platform that helps identify academic and cultural fit, as well as personalized estimates of actual cost. This selection recognizes Sewanee as one of the best colleges in the country, based on a combination of factors including graduation rates, campus diversity, and other key metrics.
Washington Monthly
#15 in the service category—with a perfect score for voter engagement efforts
Washington Monthly uses a different methodology for its rankings, based on an institution’s contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility, research, and promoting public service.
Teach For America
The University of the South is among the top small colleges sending graduates to its 2019 corps of teachers, with five alumni joining TFA in 2019.
Almost everyone
“One of the most beautiful colleges in America.”
If you’ve visited or seen the photos, you know Sewanee is stunning. See what others say.
Some things to consider
From Forbes
A Forbes column (August 2018) gives a synopsis of 13 different ranking efforts, including the best-known as well as some new options. The overall conclusion? With a few exceptions, there’s not much difference among the various ranking systems (even when being different is a goal):
“Although all the rankings tout their methodologies, there's really no way to measure things like college quality, atmosphere and outcomes objectively. Data can be collected and inferences made from the percentage of graduates going to med school or teaching, but these are only generalized guidelines. You still need to do the legwork yourself.”
From The New York Times
A New York Times column from October 2016 makes a similar point:
“Inasmuch as all of these rankings rely on, and compile, objective information about the schools they examine, they’re useful. But all of them also make subjective value judgments about what’s most important in higher education, and those judgments may or may not dovetail with a student’s interests.”
