Dartmouth has earned the top spot for “Strong Commitment to Teaching” for the fourth year in a row, and moved into the Top 10 national universities in U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Colleges 2013” rankings, the magazine announced today.
Dartmouth was the only Ivy League institution to improve its overall ranking this year, climbing one slot to No. 10. It shared the No. 1 spot with Princeton for a second successive year among national universities where the faculty has a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching.
“Dartmouth is in a position of increasing strength powered by the academic excellence of our faculty and students,” says President Carol L. Folt. “Our strategic planning process will build on a solid foundation to ensure that our future will be one of even stronger faculty and student achievement, as well as research that will keep Dartmouth at the forefront of educational institutions for decades to come.”
Also this year, Dartmouth ranked No. 1 in the “High School Counselor Picks” category, climbing from fifth last year. Dartmouth shares first place with Cornell, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale.
Dartmouth again ranked in the top tier of national universities that offer students the best value, commanding seventh position for the second year in a row. The “Great Schools at Great Prices” category takes into account quality as well as net cost for a student who receives the average level of need-based financial aid.
Nearly half of Dartmouth’s students receive need-based scholarships, and Dartmouth will award more than $80 million in scholarship funds to undergraduates this year. Members of the Class of 2016, of whom more than 11 percent are first-generation college students, receive an average of more than $41,000 in scholarship assistance. Dartmouth also was recognized among national universities for graduating students with the least debt and for its economic diversity, with 16 percent of Dartmouth students receiving Pell grants.
“Our need-blind admissions policy allows us to prepare the most promising students for a lifetime of learning and responsible leadership, regardless of their financial circumstances,” says Folt. “We are committed to working with families to keep Dartmouth affordable and proud that the continued generosity and loyalty of our donors make this achievement possible.”
Dartmouth was recognized again for outstanding study abroad programs and “undergraduate research/creative projects.” Dartmouth has offered off-campus programs led by the faculty since 1958, and more than 60 percent of undergraduate students participate in at least one of Dartmouth’s Foreign Study Programs or Language Study Abroad programs.
U.S. News and World Report categorizes national universities as institutions that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, as well as master’s and PhD programs, and emphasize faculty research. They are ranked separately from liberal arts colleges on the basis of data gathered on up to 16 indicators of academic quality.
Harvard and Princeton again tied for top place in the overall rankings, with Yale No. 3 and Columbia and University of Chicago sharing fourth. Dartmouth and the California Institute of Technology tied for the No. 10 spot. The top 10 also included MIT and Stanford (tied for No. 6) and Duke and the University of Pennsylvania (both No. 8). Brown and Cornell shared 15th place, as they did last year.
“Dartmouth has a clear and ambitious strategy for the future — and the positive momentum to execute on that vision. We want to continue to build on our traditional strengths with a surge in scholarship and recognition, and we are committed to growing our faculty and enhancing their position as the world’s thought leaders,” says Folt.