West Point ranked top public liberal arts college

By Jim Fox, West Point Directorate of Public Affairs and CommunicationsAugust 27, 2009

West Point ranked top public liberal arts college
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"U.S. News & World Report" announced their 2010 America's Best Colleges Rankings Aug. 20 and ranked West Point the "Top Public Liberal Arts College."

The U.S. Naval Academy was ranked #2 overall.

West Point was also named the fourth-best "Undergraduate Engineering Program" ahead of both Navy (fifth) and the U.S. Air Force Academy (tied for sixth).

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Ind., and Harvey Mudd College, Calif., tied for the top spot.

In the Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs category, while West Point was ranked #4 overall, the academy ranked #2 in Civil Engineering, #8 in Mechanical and tied for #9 in Electrical in the individual engineering program categories.

The engineering rankings are based solely on a spring 2009 peer survey of deans and senior faculty that asked them to rate each program they are familiar with on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished). West Point's average was 4.1.

Out of 266 liberal arts colleges that U.S. News categorized as awarding more than half of their degrees in the arts and sciences, West Point was listed as tied for 14th-best Liberal Arts College overall, when combining both private and public colleges.

Navy was #19. Williams College, Mass., was ranked #1.

Earlier this month, Forbes.com, America's Best Colleges, ranked West Point as the "Top College in the Country."