Carleton College placed fifth overall in U.S. News & World Report magazine’s annual rankings of the best national liberal arts colleges. The College also ranked first in alumni giving, which is a measure of alumni satisfaction with the school. This is the seventh consecutive year that the magazine has ranked Carleton in the top 10 overall, and the second consecutive year the College has been ranked fifth.
"While our goals at Carleton are all about education and not about rankings, it is gratifying that the recently released rankings do recognize the quite extraordinary job which our faculty and staff do here at the college," said President Robert A. Oden Jr. "What is most heartening about this year’s report is Carleton’s designation as number one in alumni giving. Carleton graduates indicate their gratitude for their experience at Carleton by giving back to the College in numbers almost without parallel in American education."
The rankings take into account the academic reputation of the school, admissions selectivity, retention and graduation rates, class size, financial resources and alumni giving, among other factors. Carleton’s overall score was 92 on a scale of 100, and the College received a score of 4.5 on a 5.0 scale in peer assessment, which is an evaluation of the academic reputation of the school by presidents, provosts and admissions deans from similar colleges. Sixty-four percent of Carleton’s graduates made gifts to the school during the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 academic years, contributing to the number one ranking in alumni giving.
"In 1995, U.S. News recognized our faculty as the best teachers in the country, and now they’re recognizing our alumni commitment as the best," said Mark Kronholm, vice president for external relations. "Carleton’s tradition of alumni stewardship has a direct impact on the quality of education our students receive. This recognition is a tribute to the dedication of our alumni and volunteers and evidence of their desire to ensure that our students receive the best liberal arts education possible."
Carleton also was ranked 18th in the magazine’s list of best values, which is determined by a formula that relates a school’s academic quality to the net cost of attendance for a student who receives an average amount of financial aid. In the "Programs That Really Work" category, Carleton was eighth in undergraduate research/creative projects and 14th in study abroad. In addition, Carleton ranked 10th in faculty resources and 14th in selectivity, with a 2001 acceptance rate of 37 percent.
Carleton is the only Midwestern college in the top 10 schools. The other top national liberal arts colleges this year are Amherst College in Massachusetts (first), Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and Williams College in Massachusetts (second place tie), Wellesley College in Massachusetts (fourth) and Pomona College in California (tied with Carleton for fifth), according to the report.