Although it’s well below the lofty rankings that Jay Wright’s basketball teams usually attain, Villanova University’s academic position was #49 among 392 national universities that U.S. News and World Report ranked. Villanova shared the 49th position along with Lehigh, Northeastern, Ohio State, Pepperdine and Purdue.
The University of Pittsburgh and Penn State were both conspicuously absent among the top 50. Pitt came in at #59, while Penn State had to settle for #63.
Swarthmore, Haverford and Bryn Mawr, as always, are among the elite Liberal Arts Colleges
Swarthmore, almost on the Main Line was ranked #3 among 223 Liberal Arts Colleges. Only Williams College at #1 and Amherst at #2 were rated higher than Swarthmore. Haverford College fell out of the top 10 to a still more-than-respectable #16. Bryn Mawr College came in at #30.
U.S. News And World Reports is considered to be the Gold Standard among any number of similar “services. Then again, one college president (perhaps disgruntled with his school’s rating,” was known to have groused that “Ranking colleges is like ranking churches.”