{"id":27683,"date":"2023-09-18T08:00:11","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T12:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=27683"},"modified":"2025-02-02T10:03:03","modified_gmt":"2025-02-02T15:03:03","slug":"furmans-first-year-experience-among-top-20-in-us-news-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/furmans-first-year-experience-among-top-20-in-us-news-rankings\/","title":{"rendered":"Furman&#8217;s first-year experience among top-20 in U.S. News Rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Furman University again ranked among the best universities in the country, according to the U.S. News &amp; World Report \u201cBest Colleges\u201d rankings, which were released today. Overall, the university ranked 46<sup>th<\/sup> among more than 200 national liberal arts colleges and universities, down one spot from 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Furman is fifth among National Liberal Arts Colleges across the South and first overall among all universities, public and private, in South Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>This year, Furman jumped 12 spots in the best \u201cFirst Year Experiences\u201d category, a group that includes all universities, landing at 20<sup>th<\/sup>, tied with Bryn Mawr and the University of Michigan and ahead of such schools as Williams College, Vanderbilt University and Duke University. This ranking is decided by university presidents, provosts and deans of admissions who are asked to list the top schools that come to mind in this category.<\/p>\n<p>A notable experience for first-year and sophomore students at Furman is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/furman-advantage\/pathways-program\/\">The Pathways Program<\/a>, an integral part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/furman-advantage\/\">The Furman Advantage<\/a>. Pathways is a series of four one-credit classes led by faculty advisors and peer mentors that builds a foundation of self-awareness and professional skills. All students are required to take Pathways during their first two years. The Furman Advantage and Pathways are firsts in higher education, and many other universities have consulted with Furman on implementing similar programs on their campuses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s nice to be included in the \u2018Best Colleges\u2019 rankings,\u201d said Furman University President Elizabeth Davis. \u201cFurman is well represented, year after year. We are an increasingly diverse, innovative university, with stellar students, faculty and staff in a supportive environment. It\u2019s difficult to reflect the quality and value of a Furman education in a single ranking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Furman is indeed on the rise. In 2021, applications rose above 7,000 for the first time. The next year, applications topped 7,500, and in 2023 more than 8,400 applicants sought to enter Furman. The current first-year class is the most academically selective since 2005.<\/p>\n<p>In other college rankings this year, Furman placed 12<sup>th<\/sup> in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/furman-earns-no-12-spot-for-making-an-impact-in-princeton-reviews-best-value-colleges\/\">\u201cThe Princeton Review Best Value Colleges\u201d<\/a> guide and 22<sup>nd<\/sup> for \u201cMost Accessible Professors\u201d in the Princeton Review <a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/furman-again-among-princeton-reviews-best\/\">\u201c389 Best Colleges Guide.\u201d<\/a> The university also ranked 4<sup>th<\/sup> among all baccalaureate institutions and 3<sup>rd<\/sup> for campus engagement in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/furman-ranks-4th-for-sustainability\/\">Sustainable Campus Index<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Furman ranks 46th overall among National Liberal Arts Colleges and 1st among all universities, public and private, in South Carolina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":389,"featured_media":26863,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,99,71,45,56,19,20,63,17,53,64,51,33,40,88,101,37,46,28,31,38,21,42,81,58,52,50,54,44,16,39,79,36,49,32,59,75,48,94,23,68,22,27,47,41,66,55,80,93],"tags":[2297,233,1034,1574,2296],"class_list":["post-27683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-admission","category-africana-studies","category-anthropology","category-art","category-asian-studies","category-biology","category-business-and-accounting","category-career-services","category-centers-and-institutes","category-chemistry","category-classics","category-communication-studies","category-computer-science","category-continuing-education","category-cothran-center-for-vocational-reflection","category-data-analytics","category-earth-environmental-and-sustainability-sciences","category-economics","category-education","category-english","category-greek-life","category-health-sciences","category-history","category-innovation-and-entrepreneurship","category-internships","category-library","category-mathematics","category-may-experience","category-military-science-rotc","category-modern-languages-and-literature","category-music","category-neuroscience","category-philosophy","category-physics","category-politics-and-international-affairs","category-pre-health","category-pre-law","category-psychology","category-public-health","category-religion","category-shucker-leadership-institute","category-sociology","category-student-life","category-study-away-and-international-education","category-theatre-arts","category-undergraduate-evening-studies","category-undergraduate-research","category-urban-studies","category-womens-gender-and-sexuality-studies","tag-2023-rankings","tag-rankings","tag-u-s-news","tag-us-news-and-world-report","tag-uswnr"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27683"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36091,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27683\/revisions\/36091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}