Liberal Arts Colleges

I am in the process of looking at potential colleges for my son. After reading Loren Pope’s Colleges that Change Lives, I think a small, liberal arts college is the best option for my son. What does my son have to say about it? Not much which is one of the reasons I think he needs to be in a small school and less likely to get lost.

Of course, you can get a good education at most institutions of higher education, small or not. Having graduated from UT Austin, I think I have a pretty good idea of the advantages and disadvantages of attending a large institution. I just don’t think that it’s currently the best fit for my son.

Therefore any information I present here will be oriented to identifying small liberal arts colleges that provide opportunities for those students who aren’t in the top ten percent of their class and have less than an A average. Pope identified 40 of them but I don’t think that’s the end of the list. So I’ve created my base list of colleges from which to start my search.

The base list is derived from the College Results website. I’ve selected all schools with the following parameters:

  • less than 5,000 undergraduate students
  • a four year graduate rate of 30% or higher
  • less than ten percent of the student population is part-time
  • less than ten percent of the student population is over the age of 25
  • at least 20 percent of the degrees awarded are in the arts and science
  • less than 40 percent of the degrees awarded are in science, math, engineering, technical area

The list is broader than I had intended to accommodate interesting school that may not meet strict “statistical” requirements. I’m really not that interested in any schools larger than 2,500 students but you never know.

I put the ten percent part-time and over age 25 as a way to identify residential schools with an undergraduate focus. If there had been a way to search on the percentage of students living on campus, I would have done that instead.

In any case, I’m sure I’m missing some potentially good schools because of these limits but I have to start somewhere.

This method generated 225 schools. Of those, 58 had a four year graduation rate of less than 50% so they are not at the top of my list of schools to investigate but are still possibilities. Another 22 schools had an acceptance rate of less than 40% which made them more selective and are probably looking more for the top ten percent students. From the remaining colleges I selected those that have a graduation rate of 50% or higher and admit at least 60% of the students applying. This included 94 schools–my starting point.

I intend to look at these schools starting with my preferences of smaller schools that also do a good job of getting it’s graduates into graduate school. Since I am doing this for my son, I schools that have a baseball and football program will get looked at first.

Of course, none of this data collecting can substitute for actually visiting a college yourself and talking to students on campus. But if you’re trying to find good liberal arts colleges that aren’t ranked on some national top twenty list, this is as good as place to start as any.

Red-less than 50% four year graduation rate
Purple-less than 40% acceptance rate
Green-greater than 50% graduation rate and 60% acceptance rate
Black-greater than 50% graduation rate and acceptance rate between 40% and 60%

Abilene Christian University
Albertson College Of Idaho
Albion College
Alfred University
Allegheny College
Alma College
Amherst College
Asbury College
Augustana College - Illinois
Augustana College - South Dakota
Austin College
Baker University College Of Arts And Sciences
Bard College
Barnard College
Bates College
Beloit College
Berea College
Berry College
Bethany College - West Virginia
Birmingham Southern College
Bowdoin College
Brandeis University
Bridgewater College
Bryn Mawr College
Bucknell University
Butler University
Calvin College
Canisius College
Carleton College
Carson-Newman College
Cedarville University
Centenary College Of Louisiana
Central College
Centre College
Chapman University
Citadel Military College Of South Carolina
Claremont Mckenna College
Clark University
Coe College
Colby College
Colby-Sawyer College
Colgate University
College Of Saint Benedict
College Of The Holy Cross
College Of The Ozarks
Colorado College
Concordia College At Moorhead
Connecticut College
Cornell College
Creighton University
Dartmouth College
Davidson College
Denison University
Depauw University
Dickinson College
Dordt College
Drake University
Drew University
Earlham College
Eckerd College
Elon University
Emerson College
Emory And Henry College
Endicott College
Evangel University
Fisk University
Flagler College
Franciscan University Of Steubenville
Franklin And Marshall College
Franklin College
Franklin Pierce College
Freed-Hardeman University
Furman University
Georgetown College
Gettysburg College
Gonzaga University
Gordon College
Goucher College
Grinnell College
Gustavus Adolphus College
Hamilton College
Hamline University
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampshire College
Hanover College
Harding University
Hartwick College
Hastings College
Haverford College
Hendrix College
Hobart William Smith Colleges
Hope College
Illinois College
Illinois Wesleyan University
Iona College
John Carroll University
Johnson C Smith University
Juniata
Kalamazoo College
Kenyon College
Knox College
Lafayette College
Lake Forest College
Lasell College
Lawrence University
Lebanon Valley College
Lewis & Clark College
Linfield College
Longwood University
Loras College
Loyola College In Maryland
Luther College
Lycoming College
Lynchburg College
Macalester College
Manchester College
Manhattan College
Manhattanville College
Marietta College
Maryville College
Mcdaniel College
Messiah College
Middlebury College
Midland Lutheran College
Millsaps College
Monmouth College
Morehouse College
Morningside College
Mount Union College
Muhlenberg College
Muskingum College
New England College
Newberry College
Niagara University
Northwestern College - Iowa
Norwich University
Oberlin College
Occidental College
Ohio Northern University
Ohio Wesleyan University
Oklahoma Christian University
Ouachita Baptist University
Pacific University
Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College
Pitzer College
Point Loma Nazarene University
Pomona College
Presbyterian College
Princeton University
Randolph-Macon College
Reed College
Rhode Island School Of Design
Rhodes College
Rice University
Ripon College
Roanoke College
Saint Anselm College
Saint Bonaventure University
Saint Johns University
Saint Mary’s College
Saint Michaels College
Saint Norbert College
Saint Vincent College
Salve Regina University
Samford University
Santa Clara University
Sarah Lawrence College
Seattle Pacific University
Sewanee: The University Of The South
Siena College
Skidmore College
Smith College
Southeastern University
Spelman College
St Mary’s College Of Maryland
St. Olaf College
Stetson University
Stonehill College
Suny At Fredonia
Susquehanna University
Swarthmore College
Taylor University-Upland
The College Of Wooster
The University Of The Arts
Transylvania University
Trinity College
Trinity University - Texas
Union College - New York
University Of Chicago
University Of Dallas
University Of Denver
University Of Minnesota-Morris
University Of Pittsburgh-Johnstown
University Of Portland
University Of Puget Sound
University Of Rochester
University Of San Diego
University Of Scranton
University Of The Pacific
University Of Tulsa
Ursinus College
Valparaiso University
Vassar College
Virginia Military Institute
Wabash College
Wagner College
Wake Forest University
Warren Wilson College
Wartburg College
Washington & Jefferson College
Washington And Lee University
Washington College
West Virginia Wesleyan College
Westminster College - Missouri
Westmont College
Wheaton College - Illinois
Wheaton College - Massachusetts
Whitman College
Whittier College
Willamette University
Williams College
Wingate University
Wittenberg University
Wofford College
Yeshiva University

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