(Posted September 9, 2019)

Huntingdon, Pa.— Juniata College’s reputation and profile continues to rise as evidenced in the annual ranking compiled by the web-based news publication U.S. News & World Report.

Juniata was ranked 82nd in the 2020 rankings of the best liberal arts colleges in the nation. This represents a four-point ascent from the 2019 ranking of 86. 

“Year after year we are included with the very best colleges in the United States, regardless of ranking method,” says James A. Troha, president of Juniata College. “When I consider what our faculty and staff do to create the student experience we offer, I am not surprised to be in such company.”

The College soared 165 spots, placing 114th of 744 colleges and universities considered by Money magazine in their annual ranking of Best Colleges. 

Washington Monthly magazine ranked Juniata College at 72nd for 2019, a considerable climb of 15 points from 87 in 2018. Within the Forbes.com ranking, Juniata rose eight points, coming in at 269 over 277 last year. 

Juniata remains securely in the top 100 for the second consecutive year in the U.S. News ranking. 

Juniata College was ranked at 82, along with six other liberal arts institutions, Allegheny College in Meadville, Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota, College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, Ursinus College in Collegeville, and Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts.

According to guidelines established by the Carnegie Foundation and adopted by U.S. News, institutions that award at least 50 percent of their undergraduate degrees in liberal arts are defined as liberal arts schools.

In addition, in the U.S. News & World Report 2020 Rankings, Juniata College was named as an “A+ School for B Students” among national liberal arts colleges for the sixth year in a row.

The U.S. News details its methodology for compiling the annual rankings at www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/rankings-methodologies.

Juniata is one of eight colleges from Pennsylvania to be included in the “A+” rankings. The others are Allegheny College, Ursinus College, Washington and Jefferson College, Elizabethtown College, Lycoming College, Susquehanna University, and Moravian College. Juniata is also ranked #61 among the publication’s list of 103 “Best Value National Liberal Arts Colleges.”

Juniata is one of only 13 liberal arts colleges in Pennsylvania to be ranked in the top 100 nationally.

Other Pennsylvania colleges in the U.S. News Top 100 are: Swarthmore College (3rd); Haverford College (11th); Bryn Mawr College (27th); Bucknell University (35th); Franklin & Marshall College (38th); Lafayette College (39th); Dickinson College (46th); Gettysburg College (53rd); Muhlenberg College (72nd); Allegheny College (82nd); Ursinus College (82nd); and Washington and Jefferson (92nd).

The U.S. News list is the most anticipated ranking of higher education and signals the height of what some higher education watchers call “rankings season.” The U.S. News rankings appear weeks after the Forbes.com rankings, in which Juniata ranked 269 out of nearly 650 colleges ranked by the business publication.

In calculating its rankings, Forbes.com discloses the methodology at www.forbes.com/top-colleges/#2fbdd9391987. The Forbes.com rankings appear after those posted by Money magazine. Money magazine ranks only colleges and universities it judges not to be in financial distress and that enroll more than 500 students as disclosed at money.com/money/5649328/how-money-ranks-best-colleges-2019/. Washington Monthly’s process for determining rankings is described at washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/september-october-2019/a-note-on-methodology-4-year-colleges-and-universities-10/.

None of the rankings systems are totally comprehensive; more than 4,000 colleges and universities operate in the United States and only the very best, the top 10 to 20 percent, are ranked by the majority of ranking systems. The United States is home to more than 500 private liberal arts colleges, placing Juniata among the top fifth of such institutions nationally. 

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.