Oberlin College Among Nation’s Best Schools In Recent College Guides/Rankings

August 18, 2006—As college students make their way back to campus, it is time for national publications to announce their varied rankings of the best schools. This fall Oberlin has the distinction of being selected among the top 25 by three publications: The Washington Monthly,The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students, and U.S. News and World Report “American’s Best Colleges.”

Oberlin is 13th among the nation’s top liberal arts colleges in The Washington Monthly’s second annual college rankings. The publication’s editors take a unique approach to rating colleges, ranking more than 200 liberal arts colleges by “how much they are doing for their country.” The Washington Monthly used three indicators: how well a school performs as an engine of social mobility, how well it fosters scientific and humanistic research, and how well it promotes an ethic of service to country. For more information, go to http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/ 0609.collegechart.html

Oberlin has been selected one of the top 20 “Best of the Best schools” by The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students. Oberlin is also the only liberal arts college on the list, which places schools in alphabetical order and does not assign a numerical ranking . The criteria include resources, social-scene tips, factoids—plus a definitive checklist of 20 LGBT services, curricula, groups, and policies each school does (or does not) have.

“Oberlin is special because of the collaborative strength of both the curricular and co-curricular resources available,” says Erik Estes, director of Oberlin’s Multicultural Resource Center. “Oberlin also does a great job integrating LGBT issues within a larger commitment to social justice concerns around race, class, gender and other categories of analysis.” For more information, go to http://www.advocate.com/currentstory1_w_ektid35308.asp

In the latest issue of U.S. News and World Report “American’s Best Colleges” Oberlin is 22nd among national liberal arts colleges—up one position from last year. Oberlin’s peer assessment score, which is determined by a survey of presidents, provosts, and deans of admissions, places the College 11th among national liberal arts schools.

U.S. News and World Report also features Oberlin in the “Programs to Look For” section, which identifies schools with outstanding examples of academic programs that lead to student success. Nominated for inclusion in the category “Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects,” Oberlin is recognized as a stellar example of an institution providing students opportunities to do intensive and self-directed research or creative work that results in an original scholarly paper or other product that can be formally presented.