Ohio Wesleyan Ranked Among Nation’s Finest by ‘U.S. News & World Report’
DELAWARE, OH – Ohio Wesleyan University is included on two lists in U.S. News & World Report’s 2012 Best Colleges guidebook, which hits newsstands Sept. 20.
The 2012 rankings, released online today, include Ohio Wesleyan among the “Best National Liberal Arts Colleges” and the nation’s “A-Plus Schools for B Students.”
“Ohio Wesleyan strives to make a critical difference in students’ lives by providing a top-notch liberal arts education that connects academic theory with real-world practice, encourages them to write university-funded grants to support U.S. and international research projects, and prepares them to become moral leaders in an increasingly global society,” said President Rock Jones, Ph.D. “We appreciate that U.S. News & World Report has recognized the value of an Ohio Wesleyan education and included us among the nation’s best universities.”
For its annual “Best Colleges” rankings, U.S. News & World Report examined data in up to 16 areas of academic excellence. These included undergraduate academic reputation, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, and student selectivity. The publication also surveyed counselors at public high schools that appeared in the 2010 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings and college counselors at the largest independent schools in nearly every state and the District of Columbia.
For its “A-Plus Schools for B Students” listing, U.S. News & World Report screened the schools ranked among the nation’s best to identify those institutions where hardworking students “have a decent shot at being accepted and thriving—where spirit and hard work could make all the difference in admissions offices.”
In addition to being included in U.S. News & World Report’s new guidebook, Ohio Wesleyan recently was included in the 2011 Washington Monthly rankings of schools making positive contributions to the public good in 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).
Ohio Wesleyan also recently was featured as one of The Princeton Review’s “Best 376 Colleges” and was selected for inclusion in both the 2012 edition of “The Fiske Guide to Colleges” and in Forbes magazine’s list of “America’s Top Colleges.” The Princeton Review also ranked Ohio Wesleyan as one of its “Best in the Midwest” colleges and OWU’s students as No. 15 on its list of the nation’s “Happiest Students.”
Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities, with more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Located in Delaware, Ohio, just minutes north of Ohio’s capital and largest city, Columbus, the university combines a globally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that translate classroom theory into real-world practice. OWU’s close-knit community of 1,850 students represents 45 states and 52 countries. Ohio Wesleyan was named to the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction, is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” and is included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.