College of Wooster is top school in 3 categories
Wooster inched one spot up to 66th of the 215 national liberal arts colleges.
The College of Wooster ranked highly in the U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges 2020” guidebook, joined by Ivy League member Princeton University in two of the eight academic programs — undergraduate research/creative projects and senior capstone — and recognized by education experts as “enriched offerings linked to success.”
The latest edition of the college rankings were released Monday. Wooster ranks number two in the nation in the senior capstone category, known on campus as Independent Study, and number five in undergraduate research/creative projects. Princeton also was top-five in both.
This Wooster-Princeton connection is nothing new. Since 2002 U.S. News’ editors have surveyed college presidents, chief academic officers and deans of admissions to nominate institutions with stellar examples of each program, and this marks the 18th consecutive year they’ve been ranked in both of those categories, a declaration no other school can make.
“The transformative impact of Wooster’s mentored research, in which all students participate, is no secret to our highly engaged and accomplished student body and alumni. This latest recognition demonstrates that it’s also well-known and respected by leaders at colleges across the country,” said Sarah Bolton, president of Wooster. “I applaud our faculty and staff for their unwavering commitment to developing a diverse and inclusive community and fostering an excellent educational experience for each and every Wooster student.”
Wooster excelled in several other categories including a pair of top-20 placements among national liberal arts colleges: number 11 in “Best Undergraduate Teaching” and number 19 in “Most International Students.”
Wooster was the top Ohio school on each of those lists, and the latter ranking will likely rise further when this year’s international enrollment is included.
Another area in which Wooster ranked atop Ohio’s liberal arts colleges (72nd in the nation) was a new category labeled “Top Performers on Social Mobility,” which measures how well schools graduated students who received federal Pell Grants.
Wooster also improved to 30th among the “Most Innovative Schools,” defined as those making the most innovative improvements in terms of curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology or facilities, and jumped up 11 spots to 74th in “Best Value Schools” while being noted again on the listing of “A+ Schools for B Students.”
Overall Wooster inched one spot up to 66th of the 215 national liberal arts colleges.