Wesleyan University
This year our top liberal arts school comes from the West coast. Pomona College, the oldest and most prestigious school in the Claremont Colleges Consortium rose four spots this year to claim the top spot.
Last year’s No.1 liberal arts school, Williams College fell into second place this year. Both schools promote interdisciplinary study and foster intimate classroom settings with small student-to-faculty ratios. Pomona College even allows students to create their own majors. Williams College is known for producing numerous political figures, including over 50 members of Congress and former U.S. President James Garfield.
While Pomona College and Williams College date back hundreds of years, the No. 3 school is a relatively new college. Harvey Mudd College was founded in 1957 at the height of the Space Race. Another member of the Claremont College Consortium, Harvey Mudd College offers top tier programs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The school provides undergraduate students with graduate level research opportunities. Graduates from Harvey Mudd go on to have some of the nation’s highest paying jobs.
This year’s list includes three schools from the West coast, four from the South and eight schools from the Northeast. The list features several elite liberal arts schools such as Middlebury College (No. 8), a school often referred to as one of the country’s “Little Ivies,” and Amherst College (No. 6), one of the most selective liberal arts colleges in the country.
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Middlebury and Amherst are two schools steeped in tradition. Upon graduation Middlebury students are given a replica of the ivory-and-oak cane that belonged to the school’s founder Gamaliel Painter. Similarly, Amherst College pays homage to former resident Emily Dickinson, featuring a museum dedicated to the poet. Split between two locations, the museum includes the house where Dickinson grew up.
Wellesley College was the only all women’s school to make the liberal arts list. The school took the twelfth spot. Fitting, since the school boasts “the most powerful women’s network in the world.” The school’s alumni network spans over 100 years and features such names as former presidential candidate Hilary Clinton, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, journalist Diane Sawyer and late author Nora Ephron.
14. Davidson College
11. Washington and Lee University
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