U.S. News: Best Values - Liberal Arts Colleges (2009)
Amherst College
Williams College
Pomona College
Wellesley College
Grinnell College
Swarthmore College
Middlebury College
Smith College
Macalester College
Claremont McKenna College
Colgate University
Wabash College
Carleton College
Bowdoin College
Lyon College
Agnes Scott College
Centre College
Hamilton College
Vassar College
Haverford College
Harvey Mudd College
Mount Holyoke College
Trinity College
Wesleyan University
Bryn Mawr College
Cornell College
University of Richmond
DePauw University
Oberlin College
Wofford College
Transylvania University
Thomas Aquinas College
Reed College
Austin College
Barnard College
Occidental College
Beloit College
Washington and Lee University
Colorado College
Bates College
Source: U.S. News
Methodology:
These rankings were based on three variables:
1. Ratio of quality to price: A school’s overall score in the America’s Best Colleges 2009 edition of the rankings was divided by the 2007-2008 academic year net cost to a student receiving the average need-based scholarship or grant. The higher the ratio of a school’s America’s Best Colleges 2009 edition rank to the discounted total cost less the average 2007-2008 academic year need-based scholarship or grant, the better the value. Total cost equals the sum of 2007-2008 academic year tuition, room and board, fees, books, and other expenses, including transportation.
2. Percentage of all undergraduates receiving need-based scholarships or grants during the 2007-2008 academic year.
3. Average discount: percentage of a school’s 2007-2008 total costs (tuition, room and board, fees, books, and other expenses) covered by the 2007-2008 academic year average need-based scholarship or grant to undergraduates.
Note: In the case of public institutions, 2007-2008 out-of-state tuition and percentage of out-of-state students receiving need-based scholarship or grants were used in all calculations.
Only those schools ranked in, or near, the top half of their America’s Best Colleges categories were considered. The schools’ overall Best Values ranks were determined by first standardizing the scores achieved by every school in each of the three above variables and weighting those scores. The ratio of quality to price accounted for 60 percent of the overall score; the percentage of all undergraduates receiving need-based grants accounted for 25 percent; and the average discount accounted for 15 percent. The school with the highest total weighted points became No. 1 in its category. The other schools were then ranked in descending order. Schools with the same rank are tied.
U.S. News: Best Colleges - Liberal Arts Rankings (2009)
Amherst College
Williams College
Swarthmore College
Wellesley College
Middlebury College
Bowdoin College
Pomona College
Carleton College
Davidson College
Haverford College
Claremont McKenna College
Vassar College
Wesleyan University
Grinnell College
Harvey Mudd College
United States Military Academy
Washington and Lee University
Colgate University
Smith College
Hamilton College
Oberlin College
United States Naval Academy
Bryn Mawr College
Colby College
Bates College
Macalester College
Barnard College
Mount Holyoke College
Scripps College
Bucknell University
Colorado College
Kenyon College
Trinity College
University of Richmond
College of the Holy Cross
Lafayette College
Bard College
Furman University
Occidental College
Whitman College
Sewanee–University of the South
Connecticut College
Franklin and Marshall College
Union College
Centre College
Dickinson College
Skidmore College
St. Olaf College
DePauw University
Gettysburg College
Pitzer College
Rhodes College
Denison University
Reed College
Wabash College
Lawrence University
Wheaton College
St. Lawrence University
Wheaton College
Agnes Scott College
Beloit College
Illinois Wesleyan University
Kalamazoo College
Thomas Aquinas College
Willamette University
Wofford College
Earlham College
Berea College
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Southwestern University
Austin College
Drew University
Lewis and Clark College
Muhlenberg College
St. John’s University
Virginia Military Institute
College of Wooster
Hendrix College
Spelman College
Transylvania University
Birmingham-Southern College
University of Puget Sound
Ursinus College
College of St. Benedict
Millsaps College
St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Sweet Briar College
Augustana College
Cornell College
Gustavus Adolphus College
Hope College
Knox College
Luther College
Allegheny College
Lake Forest College
New College of Florida
Washington College
Coe College
Hampden-Sydney College
Hanover College
Hillsdale College
Hollins University
Juniata College
Albion College
Bennington College
Hampshire College
Presbyterian College
St. Mary’s College
St. Michael’s College
Washington and Jefferson College
Goucher College
Lyon College
Ohio Wesleyan University
Westmont College
Calvin College
Stonehill College
Susquehanna University
Berry College
Linfield College
Randolph College
Siena College
Central College
St. John’s College
Westminster College
Source: U.S. News
Methodology:
The U.S. News rankings system rests on two pillars. It relies on quantitative measures that education experts have proposed as reliable indicators of academic quality, and it’s based on our nonpartisan view of what matters in education.
How does the methodology work? First, schools are categorized by mission, derived from the basic Carnegie classification, and, in some cases, by region.
The national universities offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and Ph.D. programs, and emphasize faculty research. The liberal arts colleges focus almost exclusively on undergraduate education. They award at least 50 percent of their degrees in the arts and sciences. The universities-master’s offer a broad scope of undergraduate degrees and some master’s degree programs but few, if any, doctoral programs. The baccalaureate colleges focus on undergraduate education but grant fewer than 50 percent of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines. The baccalaureate colleges include institutions where at least 10 percent of the undergraduate degrees awarded are bachelor’s degrees. The universities-master’s and baccalaureate colleges categories are further subdivided by geography—North, South, Midwest, and West.
Next, we gather data from each college for up to 15 indicators of academic excellence. Each factor is assigned a weight that reflects our judgment about how much a measure matters. Finally, the colleges in each category are ranked against their peers, based on their composite weighted score.
Schools are unranked and listed separately for America’s Best Colleges 2009 if they have indicated that they don’t use the SAT or ACT in admission decisions for first-time, first-year, degree-seeking applicants (or, in a few cases, if they didn’t receive enough responses on the peer assessment survey to allow us to use their peer score as part of the overall ranking). Other schools were unranked for the following reasons: a total enrollment of fewer than 200 students; a vast proportion of nontraditional students; no first-year students (these are sometimes called upper-division schools). We did not rank private, for-profit universities; nor did we rank a few specialized schools in arts, business, or engineering.
U.S. News: Best Values - National Universities (2009)
U.S. News: Best Colleges - National Universities (2009)
Forbes: Best American Private Colleges
Princeton Review: Best College Libraries
Forbes: Best American Public Colleges
Forbes: Best American Colleges
Kaplan: Top 25 Greenest Colleges
Kiplinger.com: Best Values in Public Colleges - In-State Rank (2008)
1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2. University of Florida
3. University of Virginia
4. College of William and Mary
5. New College of Florida
6. SUNY Geneseo
7. University of Georgia
8. SUNY Binghamton
9. University of Washington
10. University of California, Los Angeles
11. University of California, San Diego
12. Georgia Institute of Technology Read more»
Kiplinger.com: Best Values in Private Colleges - Top 50 Liberal Arts Colleges (2008)

1. Swarthmore College
2. Williams College
3. Amherst College
4. Wellesley College
5. Pomona College
6. Washington & Lee Univ.
7. Bowdoin College
8. College of the Holy Cross
9. Davidson College
10. Claremont McKenna College
11. Bucknell Univ.
12. Wheaton College Read more»
Kiplinger.com: Best Values in Private Colleges - Top 50 Private Universities (2008)

1. Cal. Institute of Technology
2. Yale
3. Princeton
4. MIT
5. Rice
6. Harvard
7. Dartmouth College
8. Duke
9. Emory
10. University of Pennsylvania
11. University of Notre Dame
12. Brown Read more»
uLink.com: Top 100 Colleges and Universities

1. Harvard University
2. University of Oxford (UK)
3. University of Cambridge (UK)
4. Stanford University (USA)
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA)
6. University of California, Berkeley (USA)
7. California Institute of Technology (USA)
8. Princeton University (USA)
9. Yale University (USA)
10. University of Chicago (USA)
11. Columbia University (USA)
12. University of California, San Diego (USA) Read more»
U.S. News: Best Colleges - National Universities (2008)

1. Princeton University
2. Harvard University
3. Yale University
4. Stanford University
5. University of Pennsylvania
5. California Institute of Technology
7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
8. Duke University
9. Columbia University
9. University of Chicago
11. Dartmouth College
12. Washington University in St. Louis Read more»
CampusGrotto.com: Top 10 Best Colleges to Attend

1. Princeton University
2. Stanford University
3. Harvard University
4. University of California, Berkeley
5. University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA)
6. University of Southern California (USC)
7. University of Notre Dame
8. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
9. University of Washington – Seattle
10. Indiana University – Bloomington Read more»
Gourman Report: Best Undergraduate Psychology Programs (1997)

1. Stanford University
2. Yale University
3. University of Pennsylvania
4. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
5. Univ. of Minnesota – Twin Cities
6. University of California, Berkeley
7. Harvard University
8. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
9. University of Chicago
10. Columbia University
11. UC San Diego
12. University of California, Los Angeles Read more»
The Consus Group: Composite College and University Rankings (2008)
Kiplinger.com: Best Values in Public Colleges - In-State Rank (2007)

1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2. University of Florida
3. College of William and Mary
4. University of Virginia
5. SUNY Binghamton
6. New College of Florida
7. SUNY Geneseo
8. University of California, San Diego
9. University of Washington
10. University of Georgia
11. University of California, Berkeley
12. North Carolina State University Read more»
The Consus Group: Composite College and University Rankings (2007)

1. Harvard University
2. Princeton University
3. Stanford University
4. Columbia University
5. California Institute of Technology
6. Yale University
7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
8. Brown University
9. University of California, Berkeley
10. University of California, Los Angeles
11. University of Pennsylvania
12. Dartmouth College
13. Rice University
14. Duke University
15. Swarthmore College
16. Amherst College
17. University of California, San Diego
18. Williams College
19. Georgetown University
20. Cornell University
21. Northwestern University
22. Pomona College
23. U.S. Naval Academy
24. University of California, Santa Barbara
25. University of California, Santa Cruz Read more»
Washington Monthly: College Rankings - Liberal Arts Colleges (2006)

1. Bryn Mawr College
2. Wellesley College
3. Wesleyan University
4. Haverford College
5. Amherst College
6. Mount Holyoke College
7. Claremont McKenna College
8. Williams College
9. Whitman College
10. Swarthmore College
11. Wheaton College
12. Carleton College Read more»














