Washington and Lee University is ranked 12th in this year’s U.S. News & World Report rankings of the nation’s top liberal arts colleges. This marks the 14th consecutive year that W&L has been ranked among the nation’s top liberal arts colleges by the magazine.

"We are happy to be ranked among the nation's top national liberal arts colleges," said W&L President John W. Elrod. "The University is headed in the right direction, and it gratifying to see that others are taking note as well."

Larry Boetsch, dean of the college, said, “The rankings are an accurate reflection of the desire in the entire W&L community to remain the outstanding teaching institution for which we have long been recognized.”

Among the categories used in the evaluation are academic reputation, graduation rate, student retention, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving. W&L scored particularly high in the areas of faculty resources (1), alumni giving (8) and student selectivity (11).

A listing of the top 25 national liberal arts colleges follows:

1. Amherst (Mass. ) College
2. Swarthmore (Pa.) College
3. Williams (Mass.) College
4. Wellesley (Mass.) College
5. Pomona (Calif.) College
6t. Bowdoin (Maine) College
6t. Carleton College
6t. Haverford (Pa.) College
6t. Middlebury (Vt.) College
10. Wesleyan (Conn.) University
11. Davidson (N.C.) College
12t. Smith (Mass.) College
12t. Washington and Lee (Va.) University
14t. Claremont (Calif.) College
14t. Grinnell (Iowa) College
16t. Bryn Mawr (Pa.) College
16t Vassar (N.Y.) College
18. Colgate (N.Y.) University
19t. Bates (Maine) College
19t. Colby (Maine) College
21t. Hamilton (N.Y.) College
21t. Mount Holyoke (Mass.) College
23t. Oberlin (Ohio) College
23t. Trinity (Conn.) College
25t. Macalester (Minn.) College
25t. University of the South (Tenn.)

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