The U.S. News & World Report rankings of the nation’s best colleges are out today. The rankings are an item of constant debate. We wonder if they really mean anything, if they try to measure the right things, if it’s actually possible to quantify some of those things, and whether students really take the rankings much into account when they’re trying to decide where to go to college.
Love them or hate them, though, most of us can’t avoid looking.
So yes, we looked, and found three Independent Colleges of Washington member institutions among the top 10 regional colleges in the West, and five in the top 15. Two others were ranked within the top tier in that category.
Gonzaga University rates best in the state at number 4, Seattle University is sixth, and Whitworth University ninth. Both ICW members in the national liberal arts college category ranked well, with Whitman College at 38 and University of Puget Sound at 81. In addition, five of our 10 members made the top nine in best value among regional colleges in the West. (Did you guess that Harvard and Williams would top their respective lists… again?)
We’re not sure what it means that PLU (13) is one “notch” higher than Seattle Pacific University (14), but it is good to see so many of our colleges rated so well by this tool, for whatever it’s worth.
Many of our member colleges elect not to even acknowledge the rankings. Of those that do, here’s what they’re saying today:
