Rankings and Recognition

Rankings and guidebooks are based both on hard data and on opinion. Ursinus is transparent about the information published about us. Please ask our admission counselors if you have a question about a ranking or information contained in a guidebook.

Colleges That Change Lives

Colleges That Change Lives Ursinus is among 46 Colleges That Change Lives, a book in which colleges are cited for their ability to help their students succeed. Originally written by the late Loren Pope, the book is now revised by Hilary Masell Oswald.

“Ursinus is a star of the first magnitude in the small galaxy of colleges that change lives,” the book says. “Each student has his or her own tale of transformation.”

The book notes a growth in students’ skills and self-confidence during their four years at Ursinus, and describes “how their aspirations rise, and how their perspectives broaden.” It praises Ursinus professors: “The dedication to teaching is legendary.” It states that Ursinus students have in common “civility, character, and an eagerness to learn.” More Details

Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

ROI image Georgetown A 2022 report by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce that ranked 4,500 colleges and universities by return on investment (ROI) found that liberal arts colleges outperform other institutions by more than $200,000 over the long term. Higher still is Ursinus College’s ROI, which is 29% more than the median for all liberal arts colleges, placing Ursinus in the top 6% of all colleges and universities in the nation.

With a national ranking of 249 out of 4,500 colleges and a state ranking of 27, an Ursinus College degree has an ROI of $1.355 million over 40 years. More Details

As one first-year student brags…'I receive…[so much] attention that it makes it feel as though I have a SEAL team of Ph.D.s looking out for me, and that is truly amazing.'

Princeton Review 2023

The Princeton Review

Ursinus is among the best colleges in the nation, according to the Princeton Review’s Best 390 Colleges. Ursinus is also deemed a “Best Mid-Atlantic” college and one of the nation’s top “Green Colleges.” Information in the most recent edition is based both on a statistical survey and student comments.

In previous issues, the book says Ursinus “has done a remarkable job of building a close-knit community dedicated to helping students succeed, with strong academics and plenty of opportunities for leadership.” It commends our focus on research and small class size. “As one first-year student brags…’I receive…[so much] attention that [it] makes it feel as though I have a SEAL team of Ph.D.s looking out for me, and that is truly amazing.’”

Ursinus has also received high marks for “professors accessible” Says one student, “I’ve gone into some professors’ office hours three times a week for the entirety of the semester, I’ve had professors come in on Sundays to help, and I’ve been to their houses for dinner…I’ve grown substantially…with their help.”

This is “a campus filled with motivated students and professors who worked toward every student’s success.”
-Princeton Review

U.S NEWS & WORLD REPORT

The latest rankings, announced September 24, 2024, by U.S. News & World Report, sees Ursinus now ranked 83rd among national liberal arts colleges, 67th among Best Value Schools, and 58th in Top Performers on Social Mobility. The significant improvement of 38 spots in the social mobility category underscores Ursinus’s commitment to increasing college access for all students. It is a ranking that measures how well a college or university helps economically disadvantaged students graduate. It considers several factors, including Pell grant enrollment, borrower debt, and “income outcomes.” This fall, Ursinus welcomed a first-year class that is 28 percent Pell eligible and 28 percent first-generation.

Washington Monthly

Ursinus has been named one of the top 20 schools in Washington Monthly’s 2023 rankings of liberal arts colleges in Pennsylvania. Additionally, Ursinus was ranked 10th in the “Bachelor’s to Ph.D.” and “Research” categories among the state’s liberal arts colleges. Since 2005, Washington Monthly has ranked colleges based on what they do for the country. Liberal arts colleges are ranked 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 promoting public service (encouraging students to give something back to their country). Details on methodology can be found here.

Fiske Guide to Colleges

fiske The 2024 edition of the Fiske Guide highlights more than 300 of the country’s “best and most interesting” colleges and universities. The guide is quick to call out the benefits of our small close-knit size: “the plus side is more attention from faculty and more emphasis on independent and outside-the-box learning.” It also notes that Ursinus has “reinvigorated its liberal arts roots—expanding its offerings and restructuring its core curriculum,” Quest: Open Questions Open Minds.

“Ursinus’s culture is one of inquisitive learning through experimentation and discussion with peers that brings students together,” says one senior.

In terms of facilities, the guide gives a nod to the Innovation and Discovery Center, the Kaleidoscope Performing Arts Center, the Victorian-era homes that make up our Residential Village, and the “generously sized rooms” in the dorms for first-year students.

The Summer Fellows program, Experiential Learning Experience (XLP), Parlee Center for Science and the Common Good, U-Imagine Center for Integrative and Entrepreneurial Studies, Melrose Center for Global Civic Engagement, Philadelphia Experience (PhillyX), and the Common Intellectual Experience are all noted as hallmarks of the Ursinus experience.

Forbes

Forbes Top Colleges Banner Ursinus is one of America’s Top Colleges, ranking in the top 25 of private, not-for-profit colleges and universities in Pennsylvania on the 2023 list. With 3000+ colleges in the U.S. and using data on student success, return on investment, and alumni influence, Forbes “spotlights the 500 U.S. colleges that check all the boxes: impressive graduation rates, high graduate salaries, and great outcomes for low-income students, to name a few.”

Specifics about metrics such as alumni salary, debt, graduation rate, return on investment, retention rate, and academic success can be found here.

Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal has included Ursinus in its “2025 Best 500 Colleges in the U.S.” report, further emphasizing the college’s growing reputation. Notably, Ursinus was listed among the Wall Street Journal’s “Top U.S. Colleges That Make New Graduates Rich,” reflecting its impact on improving the financial futures of its graduates.

Collaborating with College Pulse and Statista for the first time since they began ranking colleges and universities in 2016, WSJ ranks 500 schools based on three factors: student outcomes, which includes analysis of graduation rates, graduate salaries, and the cost of attendance against salary performance; learning environment, which is based on a student and alumni survey that gathered views on topics such as the quality and frequency of learning opportunities and career preparation, and satisfaction with learning facilities; and diversity, which combines metrics about the racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds and disability status of students and faculty with the experiences of students on campus via the survey. M

College Consensus

On a list of the top Consensus-ranked innovative colleges, Ursinus is ranked No. 36 out of the 50 Underrated Colleges Doing Great Things. According to their website, it’s “oftentimes the small or less prominent colleges that are the most creative, making programs and initiatives that are worth imitating, emulating, and spreading far and wide. Those are the schools and programs that College Consensus wants to highlight.”

College Consensus praises the Common Intellectual Experience: “Ursinus is notable for their model First-Year Experience program, which emphasizes intellectual development, analysis, and critical thought in an interdisciplinary mode. Built around the Common Intellectual Experience paradigm, the FYE uses freshman-only dorms, intensive seminar classes, and other methods to steep new students in inquiry.”

The site also recognizes Ursinus’s status as one of the founding institutions in Project Pericles, a nationwide consortium of select colleges and universities that “promotes civic engagement, responsible citizenship, and participatory democracy.”

Business Insider

Business Insider reported that Ursinus College is among the nation’s 50 underrated institutions, according to CollegeVine, a blog that serves as a resource for prospective students and their families. Ursinus was ranked No. 29 nationally and fourth among colleges in the Mid-Atlantic region earning recognition for the Common Intellectual Experience and the new Quest: Open Questions Open Minds core curriculum.

“While college rankings can do a great job of identifying specific schools that shine in traditional ways, they often don’t do as good of a job at recognizing colleges that excel in other ways,” the article states.

College Raptor

Best STEM Ranking In College Raptor’s 2022 ranking of best colleges, Ursinus has been included on the list of Hidden Gem Colleges That Don’t Require Test Scores. This selection recognizes Ursinus as one of the best colleges in the country, based on a combination of factors, including retention rates, graduation rates, student-to-faculty ratio, endowment per student, selectivity, and other key metrics as reported via the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for the most recently available enrollment year. Colleges on this list prefer a more holistic approach to reviewing the college applications of potential students.

“Finding hidden gem schools for students is core to how we help families discover great college choices. We take pride in making it easy for students to make those connections through our Hidden Gems Rankings lists by highlighting excellent schools like Ursinus,” said Bill Staib, CEO of College Raptor. To qualify as a Hidden Gem, a school must receive fewer than 5,000 applications per year; have fewer than 7,000 undergraduate students; offer five or more unique majors; and have a 10% acceptance rate or higher.

Ursinus College Named Best STEM Program

In 2023, College Raptor’s ranking of best colleges named Ursinus to the Hidden Gems Best STEM Programs, where we rank No. 11 nationally. Ursinus College is one of only three Pennsylvania colleges named to the top Hidden Gem STEM programs. According to College Raptor, “STEM education helps individuals become more innovative, creative, and divergent thinking. The classes focus on hands-on learning where mistakes are not only welcome, they’re expected. Exploring and experience are at the core of the courses, and this education ensures that the graduating students are meeting the current labor demand in these fields. Employment in STEM fields has grown by 79% since 1990 and is expected to grow a further 8.8% between 2017 and 2029.”

What Others are Saying

January 21, 2025

Ursinus College lands $4M gift, one of the largest in its history

The announcement of a $4M bequest from alumna Arlene Andrews McLean, Ph.D. ’62 was featured in the Philadelphia Business Journal. The gift will enhance science programs. Read about it here

October 16, 2024

‘We Have Never Been Woke’ Review: A Symbolic Ideology

Professor of Politics Jonathan Marks reviewed We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite by Musa al-Gharbi for The Wall Street Journal.Read the review.

August 27, 2024

Customers in the Classroom

Stephanie Mackler, a professor of education, was quoted in The Chronicle of Higher Education in a story that is part of a series about teaching Gen Z students. Read it here.

August 27, 2024

Spotlight on the Berman Museum of Art: From Hidden Gem to Cultural Jewel

Artwork Archive featured a story about the Berman Museum of Art and its Francoise Gilot collection. Read it here

June 20, 2024

Recognition Now

The Philadelphia Citizen featured a story about the Berman Museum’s new exhibition of the works of Mexican photographer Enrique Bostelmann “with a mission to include more people in fine art, and help ensure art’s survival.” Read the story.

June 8, 2024

Will the Constitution Save Public Universities?

Professor of Politics Jonathan Marks penned a column for The Dispatch. Read it here.

Rankings and Recognition

Georgetown’s Center of Education and the Workforce

U.S. News & World Report

1 of 46 Colleges That Change Lives

The Wall Street Journal

The Princeton Review

U.S. News & World Report

The Princeton Review

Colleges That Change Lives

Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

The Princeton Review

U.S NEWS & WORLD REPORT

Washington Monthly

Fiske Guide to Colleges

Forbes

Wall Street Journal

College Consensus

Business Insider

College Raptor

Ursinus College Named Best STEM Program

What Others are Saying

Ursinus College lands $4M gift, one of the largest in its history

‘We Have Never Been Woke’ Review: A Symbolic Ideology

Customers in the Classroom

Spotlight on the Berman Museum of Art: From Hidden Gem to Cultural Jewel

Recognition Now

Will the Constitution Save Public Universities?