U.S. News & World Report Names Lawrence University One of Nation's 50 Best Colleges

APPLETON, WIS. -- Lawrence University has again been included among the top colleges in the nation according to U.S. News & World Report's popular annual college rankings.

In U.S. News's 16th annual "America's Best Colleges" report, which was released Friday (9/13), Lawrence was ranked 50th in the "Best Liberal Arts Colleges - Bachelor's" category, which comprises 217 of the nation's leading national liberal arts colleges.

Lawrence was the only institution in Wisconsin to crack the category's top 50 ranking. It was the fourth year in a row, and the fifth time in the last six years, Lawrence has been ranked among the top tier group in the magazine's national liberal arts category.

Amherst College was ranked first for the third consecutive year among national liberal arts colleges while Swarthmore College, which shared the top spot last year with Amherst, was ranked second and Williams College was ranked third.

"Naturally we are pleased to be included in any listing of the top liberal arts colleges in the country, whether it be in U.S. News or elsewhere," said Lawrence President Richard Warch.

"At the same time, we try not to put too much stock in what is at heart a fairly reductive method of judging colleges and to rely, instead, on indicators of more depth and significance, not all of which can be translated into a numerical score. The experiences we provide our students in seminar rooms, studios and laboratories and the learning they conduct with faculty mentors and with peers are the real measures of Lawrence's quality. Our sense is that students and their families think so, too."

Lawrence also was cited in two other rankings, including one of eight new categories U.S. News introduced this year. The magazine added rankings for schools with outstanding examples of academic programs that lead to student success and enhance learning, such as creative work, undergraduate research, service learning and study abroad. The new categories were not distinguished by size or type of institution, so Lawrence was competing against the likes of premier Ivy League colleges as well as large research institutions.

U.S. News ranked Lawrence 16th nationally, just ahead of Dartmouth College, in its "first-year experience" category, which covers curricular programs that bring small groups of students together with faculty or staff on a regular basis. Princeton, Harvard, Duke and Stanford universities were also ranked in this category.

Lawrence was ranked 15th among national liberal arts in enrollment of international students, with 9% of last year's student body comprising international students. For the coming 2002-2003 academic year, more than 12% (175) of Lawrence's 1,400 students will come from abroad.

U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" is arguably the best known, most comprehensive and most influential of several guides that rank college and universities on an annual basis.

Using data from 16 separate indicators of academic excellence such as selectivity, graduation rates, SAT scores, student retention, faculty resources and alumni satisfaction, U.S. News assigns a "weight" to each criteria that reflects how much that measure matters. Each school's composite weighted score is then compared to peer institutions to determine final rankings.

In its rankings, U.S. News evaluates nearly 1,400 of the nation's public and private four-year schools, dividing them into several distinct categories. In addition to the "best liberal arts college" other categories include univesities that grant master and doctorate degrees and colleges that are considered "regional" rather than "national" institutions.