Is it nice to be recognized for doing a good job? Of course. But rankings can’t really measure the qualities that are most important in determining whether Sewanee is a good fit for you.

Rankings & Fit

The University of the South is listed frequently by various publications as among the nation’s top national liberal arts colleges, and is consistently ranked as one of the top five in the South. Those rankings highlight the unmatched educational experience and value Sewanee offers.

Is it nice to be recognized for doing a good job? Of course. But rankings can’t really measure the qualities that are most important in determining whether Sewanee is a good fit for you.

The rankings often offer reliable information you can use to compare individual schools—things like student-faculty ratio, the number of students on campus, and the range of majors available. Some ratings, however, might use questionable methodology for their analysis, or use data that is not current, or base the score on unreliable surveys. Read the fine print about how a ranking was produced—they’re all different—and take the results with a grain of salt.

Remember that there's really no way to objectively measure things like college quality, campus atmosphere, and outcomes. Decide the college features and measures that are important to you, and look for a school that gets good marks in the categories that matter to you. Connect with an admission counselor to learn more.

Highlights of popular rankings

U.S. News & World Report

#51 among national liberal arts colleges

Sewanee was also on the separate lists of “Top Performers on Social Mobility” and “Best Value Schools.” The social mobility ranking measures how well institutions graduate Pell Grant recipients. 

U.S. News primarily ranks institutions based on reputation (peer assessment) and inputs (data regarding each freshman class, university financial resources, etc.) rather than on outcomes, although this emphasis has begun to shift. A school’s ranking can move up or down several places from year to year, even with little to no change in the school’s actual point total.

Forbes “America’s Top Colleges”‌

Forbes used a new methodology in 2021 to create its list of the 600 best colleges in the country, shaking up its rankings. Sewanee remains on its “Top Colleges” list, as well as the lists of top liberal arts universities and top colleges in the South.

Princeton Review

One of the best 387 Colleges & Best Southeastern 
"best value" college

#2 best schools for making an impact
#9 Best Schools for Internships

#15 best career services
#15 BEST ALUMNI NETWORKS

Sewanee was named one of the “Best 387 Colleges” (Princeton Review does not rank schools). Sewanee was also on the list of “Green Colleges” and "Best Value Colleges" (based on a combination of academic rigor, affordability, and career outcomes). 

"We picked the 'best' colleges for our book primarily for their outstanding academics; we highly recommend each one," said Robert Franek, the Princeton Review's editor-in-chief and the book's lead author.

The Princeton Review’s 2022 “Most Beautiful Campuses” list for 2022 is a kind of hall-of-fame listing. “For the 2022 Edition, because COVID-19 limited student access to on-campus offerings, we chose instead to ... identify the schools that have earned distinction on these lists for decades.”

College Consensus‌

ranked nationally among “best liberal arts colleges”

ranked among the “best small colleges” (fewer than 3,000 students)

#2 in Tennessee

#8 among the Best Mountain Colleges (“top ranked schools for outdoor enthusiasts”)

#9 among the Most Beautiful Campuses in the Fall (“we don’t pretend this is an objective ranking, but every college on the Most Beautiful College Campuses ranking has earned its place.”)

College Consensus is an aggregate ranking that brings together data from college ranking sites like Forbes, Wallethub, and U.S. News & World Report, plus student review sites like Cappex and Niche. All of a school’s rankings make up the Publisher Rating, and all of the student reviews form the Student Review Rating; the Consensus Rating is the average of the two.

Washington Monthly 

#26 in the service category—and a “top school for student voting”

Washington Monthly uses a different methodology for its rankings, based on an institution’s contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility, research, and promoting public service. 

Almost everyone

“One of the most beautiful colleges in America.”

If you’ve visited or seen the photos, you know Sewanee is stunning. See what others say.

Some things to consider

From Forbes

A Forbes column (August 2018) gives a synopsis of 13 different ranking efforts, including the best-known as well as some new options. The overall conclusion? With a few exceptions, there’s not much difference among the various ranking systems (even when being different is a goal): 

“Although all the rankings tout their methodologies, there's really no way to measure things like college quality, atmosphere and outcomes objectively. Data can be collected and inferences made from the percentage of graduates going to med school or teaching, but these are only generalized guidelines. You still need to do the legwork yourself.”

From The New York Times

A New York Times column from October 2016 makes a similar point:

“Inasmuch as all of these rankings rely on, and compile, objective information about the schools they examine, they’re useful. But all of them also make subjective value judgments about what’s most important in higher education, and those judgments may or may not dovetail with a student’s interests.”