Oglethorpe University is ranked among the nation’s Best Liberal Arts Colleges, according to the 2022 U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges Rankings.

Oglethorpe also stood out for having the 17th most diverse student body among liberal arts colleges nationwide. U.S. News measures racial and ethnic diversity to “identify where students are most likely to encounter undergraduates from racial or ethnic groups different from their own.” Universities are evaluated and assigned a diversity index based on “the total proportion of minority students,” but excludes international students.

Additionally, Oglethorpe was recognized in the categories of social mobility and economic diversity. According to U.S. News, economically disadvantaged students are less likely than others to finish college, even when controlling for other characteristics. But some colleges are more successful than others at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating students awarded with Pell Grants. The vast majority of these federal grants are awarded to students whose adjusted gross family incomes are under $50,000.

Universities nationwide are rated annually by U.S. News in an effort to help prospective students and their families evaluate higher education choices. Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence and key weighted measures of quality: graduation and retention rates; assessment of excellence; faculty resources; student selectivity; financial resources; graduation rate performance; and alumni giving.

The country’s liberal arts colleges emphasize undergraduate education and award at least half of their degrees in the arts and sciences, which include such disciplines as English, the biological and physical sciences, history, foreign languages, and the visual and performing arts, but exclude professional disciplines such as business, education, and nursing.