Allegheny Again Makes Top 25 in Washington Monthly’s Best College Rankings

Aug. 25, 2014 – Allegheny College has been named for the second consecutive year to the Top 25 in the Best Liberal Arts Colleges category of Washington Monthly’s college rankings, released today. Also listed among the top 25 are Bryn Mawr, Carleton, Swarthmore, Reed, Macalester, Williams, Oberlin and Haverford. In addition, Washington Monthly ranked Allegheny 34 among liberal arts colleges that represent “the best bang for the buck,” based on the economic value students receive per dollar.

The Washington Monthly rankings are unique in that they recognize not only what colleges do for their students but what colleges are doing for the country. The rankings rate top liberal arts colleges in the nation based on three broad categories: social mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs) and civic engagement (encouraging students to give something back to society).

“The Washington Monthly ranking reflects the values at the core of the Allegheny experience,” said James H. Mullen Jr., president of Allegheny College. “Allegheny has been known since its founding in 1815 as a college where students can get an education of the highest quality that is still affordable, where they can work alongside faculty members on important research, and where students and graduates believe in giving back. Our college community illustrates every day how deeply embedded in Allegheny’s culture is an ethic of service and civic engagement.”

The Top 25 ranking is the latest in a string of such mentions for Allegheny.

• Allegheny College is one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduate education, according to the Princeton Review. The education services company features Allegheny in the 2015 edition of its annual college guide “The Best 379 Colleges.”

• The Princeton Review also recognizes Allegheny in its publication “The Princeton Review’s Guide to 332 Green Colleges.”

• The Sierra Club, the nation’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, has again listed Allegheny College among the top colleges and universities in the nation for green initiatives, institutions that the Sierra Club calls “America’s coolest schools.”

• Allegheny is also among the 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s “Colleges That Change Lives.”

• The Allegheny College Prize for Civility in Public Life, awarded annually at the National Press Club, has put Allegheny at the forefront of the national debate to enhance civility in U.S. politics.

In addition, the college’s new Allegheny Gateway is creating an innovative learning model that takes students beyond the traditional classroom setting to learn more about the diversity of cross-cultural and global issues and civic and social responsibility.

By bringing together in one place opportunities for internships, service to the community, scholarship mentoring, unique interdisciplinary experiences and study away, the Allegheny Gateway provides students with the comprehensive support and preparation they need to excel in a diverse, interconnected world.

The 32nd oldest college in the nation, Allegheny celebrates its bicentennial in 2015.