CSB and SJU recognized as top institutions nationally

The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University have been recognized nationally by their peers in the recently released U.S. News and World Report 2013 college rankings. Both CSB and SJU were again ranked among the top 100 liberal arts colleges in the country.

In the U.S. News overall ranking in the National Liberal Arts Colleges group, SJU was ranked 75th and CSB was ranked 96th. The rankings include evaluations of 251 liberal arts colleges that emphasize undergraduate education and award at least half of their degrees in the arts and sciences. Criteria for the rankings include undergraduate academic reputation, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance and alumni giving.

The magazine listed CSB as one of only seven colleges cited on the "Up-and-Comers" list. College administrators were surveyed in spring 2012 to nominate institutions that they think "recently made the most promising and innovative changes in the areas of academics, faculty, student life, campus or facilities." This is the third time in the last four years that CSB has been included on this list.

In addition, SJU was noted for a strong commitment to teaching, tied for 12^th among 19 schools in the national liberal arts category (institutions are measured against their peers only). The magazine asked school administrators - college presidents, provosts and admission deans - to identify schools where the faculty "has an unusually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching."

The U.S. News rankings also included a list of schools with outstanding academic programs that are commonly linked to student success. These programs were selected by education experts as key to providing undergraduate students with the best possible experiences. This year, CSB was cited with 32 other institutions for the study abroad program (there were no numerical ratings for this category). College presidents, chief academic officers and deans of admissions could nominate up to 10 institutions in each of the eight categories.

CSB and SJU are consistently highly ranked in a number of college guidebooks. See the CSB and SJU Admission pages for more details.