Marietta College placed eighth among Best Regional Colleges in the 2018 U.S. News & World Report survey, released today.
Marietta, which shared the No. 8 spot last year with Dordt College, is tied with the Iowa school again. Each have overall scores of 83.
This is the 33rd consecutive year Marietta has made the Top 10 list. Overall, there were 80 colleges included in the Midwest rankings. When compared to other regional rankings, Marietta’s overall score of 83 would put it No. 3 in the South, No. 4 in the North and No. 7 in the West.
If you combined all of the regions together, which ranks 240 colleges and universities, Marietta would be tied for 19th overall.
“Marietta continues to shine as one of the best private, liberal arts colleges in the country,” said Steve Lazowski, Vice President for Enrollment Management. “It is always rewarding to see such esteemed publications like U.S. News & World Report recognize our excellence in providing students a quality contemporary liberal arts degree at an extraordinary value.”
The rankings help prospective students and their families obtain a glimpse of the relative quality of each college and university. That quality is based on 15 indicators of academic excellence, according to U.S. News & World Report’s ranking explanation. Those indicators include first-year student retention numbers, graduation rates and quality of faculty, among other metrics. Each of those factors is weighted, and then the college is ranked against peer institutions based on the composite weighted score.
Three areas Marietta excels in are Percent of Classes under 20 students (79 percent), Average Alumni Giving Rate (17 percent) and Freshmen in top 25 percent of high school class (53 percent).
The top institutions in the Midwest include Calvin College (Grand Rapids, Michigan), Taylor University (Upland, Indiana), Augustana University (Sioux Fall, South Dakota), Ohio Northern University (Ada, Ohio), College of the Ozarks (Point Lookout, Missouri), Goshen College (Goshen, Indiana), Cottey College (Nevada, Missouri) and sharing the eighth spot with Marietta, Dordt College (Sioux Center, Iowa).