CSB and SJU both move up in national rankings of liberal arts colleges

The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University were recently highly rated in national rankings of liberal arts colleges by two magazines.

CSB and SJU were again ranked among the top 90 liberal arts colleges in the country in the U.S. News and World Report 2017 college rankings, and among the top 35 liberal arts colleges in the country in the 2016 Washington Monthly rankings.

U.S. News rankings

In the U.S. News rating of National Liberal Arts Colleges, SJU tied for 77th (up two spots from last year) and CSB tied for 87th (up three spots from last year).

U.S. News ranked 239 liberal arts colleges which emphasize undergraduate education and award at least half of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines.

Criteria for the rankings include graduation and retention rates; undergraduate academic reputation; faculty resources; student selectivity; financial resources; graduation rate performance; and alumnae/i giving (the average percentage of living alumnae/i with bachelor's degrees who gave during 2013-14 and 2014-15).

The magazine also recognized CSB and SJU as national leaders in a number of categories, including campus ethnic diversity; economic diversity; freshman retention rate; highest four-year graduation rate; most international students; students living in university housing; most students studying abroad; service learning; study abroad; and high school counselor ranking.

Additionally, CSB was ranked by the magazine among the leaders in best undergraduate teaching programs.

Washington Monthly rankings

In a separate rating recently released, SJU was ranked No. 32 (up 50 spots from its 2015 ranking) and CSB was No. 34 (up five spots from last year) in the Washington Monthly rankings of liberal arts colleges. A total of 239 liberal arts schools were ranked by Washington Monthly.

Washington Monthly rated schools based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and Ph.D.'s), and service (encouraging students to give something back to their country).

CSB and SJU are consistently highly ranked in a number of college guidebooks. See the CSB and SJU Admission pages for more details.