GREENVILLE, S.C. – Furman University continues to rank among the nation’s top liberal arts colleges, according to the annual rankings released today by U.S. News and World Report magazine.

      Furman is ranked No. 41 in the category of “Best Liberal Arts Colleges,” which consists of 215 colleges that emphasize undergraduate education and award at least half of their degrees in the liberal arts.  The university was tied for 41st with two Pennsylvania schools – Dickinson College and Franklin and Marshall College.

      “There is no question that many prospective students and their parents use a variety of college guidebooks to help them make decisions about which colleges might be best suited for them,” said Furman president David E. Shi.  “So there are definite benefits to being mentioned prominently in a guide like U.S. News & World Report, and we are grateful that Furman continues to stand out in the survey.

      “But prospective students also need to be skeptical of any system that assigns a precise numerical rank to a college or university.  It’s more important for the student to choose the college that's best for them rather than because of its ranking.”

      Furman also ranked No. 31 in the “Great Schools, Great Prices” category for liberal arts colleges.  The rankings reflect the ratio of quality to price and, according to the magazine, “the higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal.”

      The university also appeared in the category “Programs To Look For,” which lists eight types of academic programs that lead to student success.  Furman was listed as excelling in the area of “Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects,” where students do “intensive and self-directed research or creative work that results in an original scholarly paper or other product that can be formally presented on or off campus.”

      All of the schools listed in the U.S. News rankings were evaluated in the areas of peer assessment, retention of students, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, and alumni giving.  Those schools in the national universities and liberal arts colleges were also evaluated on graduation rate performance.

      In individual categories, Furman highest rankings came in alumni giving (30), graduation and retention (31), selectivity (33) and national reputation (3.4 on a scale of 1-5).  Its lowest ranking came in the area of financial resources (69).

      U.S. News ranked the top 100 schools in the “Best Liberal Arts” category and then listed the remaining schools in alphabetical order within third and fourth “tiers.”  Furman was one of six Southern colleges to make the top 50.

      For more information, contact Furman’s News and Media Relations Office at 864-294-3107.

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