Allegheny Placed in Top Liberal Arts Colleges by Guidebook That Emphasizes “Best Values”

Nov. 19, 2012 — Allegheny College is included among the 100 “best values” in liberal arts colleges in the nation, according to Kiplinger’s, a private financial advising company. The rankings, which focus on affordability as well as strong academics, will be published in the December issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine.

In all, 14 liberal arts colleges in Pennsylvania made the list, including Swarthmore, Haverford, Lafayette, Bryn Mawr, Bucknell, Gettysburg, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Muhlenberg, Ursinus, Washington & Jefferson, Westminster and Juniata.

Kiplinger’s bases its evaluations on quantifiable measures that include cost, financial aid, student indebtedness, selectivity, graduation rates and academic support for students.

In addition to the Kiplinger’s rankings, Allegheny has been included within the last several months in a number of guidebooks and rankings that measure the quality of institutions based on a variety of measures.

Allegheny is one of only seven schools in its category recognized as an “Up-and-Comer” – and is tied with the University of Richmond for the No. 1 slot – in the U.S. News and World Report rankings released in September. “Up-and-Comers” are identified by college presidents, provosts and admissions deans at their peer schools as having recently made, according to U.S. News, “the most promising and innovative changes in the areas of academics, faculty, student life, campus, or facilities.”

The U.S. News rankings again place Allegheny among the top 100 liberal arts colleges in the nation. The college was also listed again this year as an “A+ School for B Students.”

In August, Newsweek magazine and the Daily Beast named Allegheny College as one of the top 20 colleges nationwide for academic rigor. Allegheny was immediately preceded in the rankings by Carnegie Mellon, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard. Immediately following Allegheny in the rankings were Carleton College, Northwestern University and Duke University.

That announcement was followed by the news that the Princeton Review had included Allegheny in the newly released edition of its annual college guide, “The Best 377 Colleges.” Only about 15 percent of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges are profiled in the Princeton Review guide.

Also in August, Washington Monthly’s “2012 College Rankings: What Can Colleges Do for the Country?” ranked Allegheny College No. 41 – 13 spots ahead of last year’s rankings – among liberal arts colleges in the nation based on contribution to the public good.

The Sierra Club ranked Allegheny at No. 55 in a listing of the nation’s “greenest colleges” in its September/October magazine. Earlier in the summer, the Princeton Review recognized Allegheny College as one of the most environmentally responsible colleges in the U.S. and Canada, selecting it for inclusion in the second annual edition of “The Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges: 2012 Edition.”

Allegheny College is also once again among the schools chosen for inclusion in “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges,” which was released this summer. The new edition of Loren Pope’s highly influential guidebook—which has undergone 24 printings—has been revised and updated by Hilary Masell Oswald.

The 32nd oldest college in the country, Allegheny College will celebrate its bicentennial in 2015.