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Female students talking on The Christy Mall

Marietta College is ranked 10th — up three spots from last year — among the Best Midwest Regional Colleges in the 2020 U.S. News & World Report survey, released today. Marietta was also ranked No. 8 in the region in the Best Value Schools category.

Marietta is tied Benedictine College in Kansas and Milliken University in Illinois. Each institution has an overall score of 79.

Overall, there were 70 colleges included in the Midwest rankings. When compared to other regional rankings, Marietta’s overall score would put it No. 3 in the North, No. 5 in the South, No. 4 in the North and No. 7 in the West.

If you combined all of the regions together, which ranks 233 colleges and universities, Marietta would be tied for 22nd overall.

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 (85 percent), Average Alumni Giving Rate (15 percent) and Freshmen in top 25 percent of their high school class (45 percent).

The top institutions in the Midwest include Taylor University (Upland, Indiana), Cottey College (Nevada, Missouri), College of the Ozarks (Point Lookout, Missouri), Dordt University (Sioux Center, Iowa) and Ohio Northern University (Ada, Ohio).

U.S. News recognizes the global culture and the importance of befriending and learning to collaborate with students from other countries. Marietta’s proportion of international students was 13 percent, which ranks Marietta second in the regional rankings.

In the Best Value category, Marietta moved up eight spots to eighth in the Midwest. Marietta was also ranked 34th in Top Performers on Social Mobility.