Saint Michael’s again lands in U.S. News ‘Best Colleges’

Saint Michael’s College is once again among the top National Liberal Arts Colleges in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report in its 2021 Best Colleges listings.

This year, Saint Michael’s is ranked at #120 among National Liberal Arts Colleges, moving up from a tie for #124 last year. Factors that helped Saint Michael’s move up in the rankings included excellent graduation rate, student-faculty ratio, the quality of incoming students, and engagement of alumni along with other factors.

Here’s how the U.S. News Rankings Guide defines National Liberal Arts Colleges: “These schools, both public and private, emphasize undergraduate education. To be included, colleges must award at least 50 percent of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines, such as languages and literature, biology, life sciences, philosophy, cultural studies, and psychology.”

Saint Michael’s also appears in this year’s just-released U.S. News rankings list for “Top Performers on Social Mobility.” The U.S. News website explains this category: “Economically disadvantaged students are less likely than others to finish college, even when controlling for other characteristics. But some colleges are more successful than others at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants. The vast majority of these federal grants are awarded to students whose adjusted gross family incomes are under $50,000. The following schools performed best on U.S. News’ social mobility ranking factors.” On that list, Saint Michael’s comes in at #164.

U.S. News additionally designated Saint Michael’s among “A-Plus Schools for B students,” though that is not a ranked list. Michael Stefanowicz, director of admission at Saint Michael’s, said, “I think this is an acknowledgment not only of St. Mike’s having a high retention and graduation rate, but of how students who might not be academic all-stars in high school can thrive at Saint Michael’s. Some of the success stories we are most proud of are not necessarily those that enter at the top of their class, but those that succeed beyond even their own expectations.”

According to U.S. News, its rankings, which group schools based on categories created by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, have grown in the past two decades into “the most comprehensive research tool for students and parents considering higher education opportunities.”

The full rankings and data can be found on the U.S. News website.