Elon earns highest ranking ever by U.S. News & World Report

In addition, Elon’s academic programs were mentioned more often than any other school in the nation in the U.S. News survey of the nation’s top college administrators. College presidents, chief academic officers and chief admissions officers cited Elon for excellence in the following programs: first-year experiences, study abroad, internships, undergraduate research, learning communities, service learning and senior capstone experiences.

As the top North Carolina school in the regional master’s-level rankings, Elon earns high marks for academic reputation, freshman retention rate, graduation rate, entering freshmen SAT scores and class rank, small class sizes and low student-faculty ratio.

The top 10 master’s-level Southern universities include the following:

1. Rollins College (Fla.)
2. (tie) Elon University
2. (tie) Stetson University (Fla.)
4. James Madison University (Va.)
5. The Citadel (S.C.)
6. Loyola University New Orleans (La.)
7. Mercer University (Ga.)
8. College of Charleston (S.C.)
9. University of Mary Washington (Va.)
10. Appalachian State University (N.C.)

ELON STUDENTS QUOTED
Two Elon students are quoted in this year’s U.S. News college guide, in a story titled “Isn’t it time you hit the books: If high school made it look easy, college can be a shock.”  Gavin Sands, who graduated last spring, described her experiences with a challenging contemporary art class. Senior Jessi Young discussed the adjustment she made to college classes that had far fewer graded assignments than her high school classes.

“One of the paradoxes of college is that you have so much more free
time, but often you don’t use it wisely,”  Young, told U.S. News.
“You are only in class three hours a day, but you still have a lot of
work to do. You can go outside and do things, but then it’s 11:30 p.m.
and you haven’t done your work for the next day.”

PROGRAMS TO LOOK FOR
U.S. News & World Report’s survey of top college administrators is called “Programs to Look For.” Respondents are asked to nominate stellar examples in eight categories. The schools mentioned most frequently are cited by the magazine for excellence, and Elon received recognition in seven of the eight categories. No other school made as many lists. Below is the full U.S. News & World Report “Programs to Look For” lists that include Elon:

INTERNSHIPS
Alverno College (WI)
Berea College (KY)
Drexel University (PA)
Elon University (NC)
Georgia Institute of Technology
Harvey Mudd College (CA)
Kalamazoo College (MI)
Kettering University (MI)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology
Northeastern University (MA)
Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)
Rochester Inst. of Technology (NY)
University of Cincinnati*
Virginia Tech*

FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCES
Alverno College (WI)
Amherst College (MA)
Appalachian State University (NC)
Ball State University (IN)*
Boston College
Bowling Green State University (OH)
Brevard College (NC)
College of Charleston (SC)
College of the Holy Cross (MA)
Dartmouth College (NH)
Drury University (MO)
Elon University (NC)
Evergreen State College (WA)
Grinnell College (IA)
Indiana University–Bloomington
Indiana U.-Purdue U.–Indianapolis
James Madison University (VA)
Kalamazoo College (MI)
Kennesaw State University (GA)
North Carolina State U.–Raleigh
Ohio State University–Columbus
Pennsylvania State U.–University Park
Portland State University (OR)
Princeton University (NJ)
Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. (NY)
Southeast Missouri State Univ.
Stanford University (CA)
Texas A&M Univ.–College Station
Univ. of Maryland–College Park
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
University of New Mexico
U. of North Carolina–Chapel Hill
University of Notre Dame (IN)
Univ. of South Carolina–Columbia
University of Washington
Valparaiso University (IN)
Vanderbilt University (TN)
Wagner College (NY)
Yale University (CT)

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH/CREATIVE PROJECTS
Brown University (RI)
California Institute of Technology
Carleton College (MN)
Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
College of Wooster (OH)
Cornell University (NY)
Dartmouth College (NH)
Davidson College (NC)
Duke University (NC)
Elon University (NC)
Furman University (SC)
Georgia Institute of Technology
Grinnell College (IA)
Harvard University (MA)
Harvey Mudd College (CA)
Hope College (MI)
Johns Hopkins University (MD)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology
Ohio State University–Columbus
Pomona College (CA)
Princeton University (NJ)
Reed College (OR)
Stanford University (CA)
SUNY–Stony Brook
Swarthmore College (PA)
Truman State University (MO)
University of California–Berkeley
University of California–Irvine
Univ. of California–Los Angeles
University of Delaware
Univ. of Maryland–College Park
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
U. of North Carolina–Asheville
U. of North Carolina–Chapel Hill
Yale University (CT)

LEARNING COMMUNITIES
Alverno College (WI)
Appalachian State University (NC)
Bowling Green State University (OH)
Elon University (NC)
Evergreen State College (WA)
Indiana University–Bloomington
Indiana U.-Purdue U.–Indianapolis
Iowa State University
James Madison University (VA)
Miami University–Oxford (OH)
Michigan State University
Ohio State University–Columbus
Portland State University (OR)
Princeton University (NJ)
Santa Clara University (CA)
Syracuse University (NY)
Temple University (PA)
U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign
Univ. of Maryland–College Park
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Univ. of Missouri–Columbia
University of Washington
Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison
Wagner College (NY)

STUDY ABROAD
Arcadia University (PA)
Beloit College (WI)
Boston University
Butler University (IN)
Carleton College (MN)
Dartmouth College (NH)
Dickinson College (PA)
Earlham College (IN)
Elon University (NC)
Georgetown University (DC)
Goshen College (IN)
Goucher College (MD)
Grinnell College (IA)
Kalamazoo College (MI)
Macalester College (MN)
Michigan State University
Middlebury College (VT)
New York University
Pepperdine University (CA)
St. Olaf College (MN)
Syracuse University (NY)
Taylor University (IN)
Univ. of Minnesota–Twin Cities
University of Texas–Austin

SERVICE LEARNING
Alverno College (WI)
Bates College (ME)
Berea College (KY)
Brown University (RI)
California State University–Monterey Bay
DePaul University (IL)
Duke University (NC)
Earlham College (IN)
Elon University (NC)
Georgetown University (DC)
Indiana U.-Purdue U.–Indianapolis
James Madison University (VA)
Marquette University (WI)
Michigan State University
Portland State University (OR)
Stanford University (CA)
Tulane University (LA)
University of California–Berkeley
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
University of Notre Dame (IN)
University of Pennsylvania
University of Utah
Vanderbilt University (TN)

SENIOR CAPSTONE
Alverno College (WI)
Brown University (RI)
Carleton College (MN)
College of Wooster (OH)
Dartmouth College (NH)
Davidson College (NC)
Duke University (NC)
Elon University (NC)
Grinnell College (IA)
Harvard University (MA)
Kalamazoo College (MI)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology
Pomona College (CA)
Portland State University (OR)*
Princeton University (NJ)
Reed College (OR)
Southern Illinois U.–Edwardsville *
Stanford University (CA)
Swarthmore College (PA)
Truman State University (MO)*
Worcester Polytechnic Inst. (MA)
Yale University (CT)

Elon was also named one of the top 300 schools that are termed “A+ options for ‘B’ students.”

More on the U.S. News rankings is available online at www.usnews.com/colleges.