U.S. News & World Report has once again recognized Southwestern University as being among the nation’s best liberal arts colleges. The publication ranked Southwestern #2 in Texas and #91 in the United States on their annual Best National Liberal Arts Colleges List. The honor marks the sixth consecutive year that Southwestern has been ranked inside the top 100 in the nation.
New in their 2027 rankings, U.S. News & World Report has added a Top Private Colleges List, with Southwestern debuting at #2 in the Lone Star State and #87 in the nation. SU also continues to earn a spot in the publication’s Top Performers in Social Mobility List, a category that places greater weight on outcomes for students receiving Pell Grants. For 2027, Southwestern checked in at #4 in Texas and #136 in the U.S.
Every year, U.S. News & World Report evaluates more than 1,700 U.S. colleges and universities, measuring academic quality and graduate success using 17 factors, including graduation rates, first-year retention rates, borrower debt, student-faculty ratio, and peer assessments. Southwestern was included in the National Liberal Arts Colleges category, measured among fellow institutions who focus almost exclusively on undergraduate education and award at least 50% of their degrees in the arts and sciences.
U.S. News & World Report publishes the Best Colleges rankings annually to provide prospective students and their families with the comparative merits of the undergraduate programs at America’s colleges and universities. The rankings, which date back to 1983, offer detailed information of the institutions and data on factors such as graduation rates and post-graduate earnings.
“Higher education is an investment in a student’s future, and we’re proud to recognize the institutions that continue to raise the bar for academic excellence,” U.S. News & World Report Managing Editor for Education LaMont Jones, Ed.D. said. “The Best Colleges rankings celebrate schools that demonstrate outstanding commitment to student success, providing prospective families with a roadmap to discover high-performing institutions that align with their specific academic, career and personal goals.”
Prospective students can see how Southwestern compares to other institutions and how the rankings are calculated on USNews.com.
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