The Princeton Review and Washington Monthly place VWU among best colleges for 2024, 2025.
Virginia Wesleyan University was included in “The Best 390 Colleges 2025 Edition” in the Princeton Review and was 155 out of 194 in the “2024 Liberal Arts Colleges Ranking” by Washington Monthly.
“I like the community. I feel like there’s always something to do here,” Natailie Gillot, a student-athlete and freshman, said. Graphic Design major and freshman Davieon Thornton added to this, outlining the campus size.
“Everyone is really active, and it’s not like a really huge campus,” Thornton said.
The Princeton Review’s national list of colleges is made using data from student respondents who answer and rank their institutions. The Princeton Review explained that 168,000 students’ ratings of their colleges were the entire basis of their rankings.
McKenna Howenstine|Marlin Chronicle
On their website, The Princeton Review said it “does not rank schools overall 1-390” and that the list is alphabetical instead. The main distinction on the list are the featured colleges. The featured designation is a paid position which gives a yellow background to the institution and allows an addition of an image.
Washington Monthly said it ranks liberal arts colleges “based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility, research, and promoting public service” on its website.
In addition to the total ranking, the Washington Monthly gives more specific rankings in the three categories that it ranks institutions in. Virginia Wesleyan placed at 154 in social mobility, 182 in research and 67 in service out of a total of 194 for all of them.
The social mobility score is a combination of the ratio of students receiving Pell grants to the total school size, students graduating at a higher rate than their non-grant receiving peers, along with affordability of an institution and the graduation rate of first generation students.
The Pell grant portion of the score is negative when the grant recipients have a lower graduation rate than their non grant peers. Virginia Wesleyan University has a score of -10% in this category.
The research ranking in the Washington Monthly is determined through the amount of alumni that go on to receive a doctorate in proportion to the size of the institution and the money spent on research.
National Universities have more categories that are included in the ranks, like the number of engineering and science doctorates, as such the liberal arts research scores are much more focused on eventual doctorate attainment to the point of being 60% of the research score.
McKenna Howenstine|Marlin Chronicle
Not every bachelor degree has a doctorate. For example, business degrees generally terminate with a master’s degree. Business is the most common major at Virginia Wesleyan.
The Princeton Review also releases a book with the 390 colleges broken down into lists of the top 50 in various categories, including best colleges for various degrees.
The overall list of 390 institutions is available online through the Princeton Review’s website and the top 50 lists for degrees are available though the book and requires a purchase to access, though there are free lists that can be accessed on the website.
These lists include social life metrics, like substance use, and the lists have distinctive names. For example, the rankings of schools with the most and least marijuana use are named “Reefer Madness” and “Pot’s Not Hot” respectively. Virginia Wesleyan did not place on either of these rankings.
The Princeton Review has profiles on many colleges and universities that are informed by the same metrics as their rankings, student surveys.
Virginia Wesleyan University’s profile is split into three categories: academics, student body and campus life.
The review is interspersed with quotes from students about the institution. The small class size and personability of the professors were noted as being some of the university’s most attractive academic features.
The student body section of VWU’s profile emphasizes the respect people have for each other and the wide variety of cultural events that are held on campus.
“I like how everyone is really interacting with each other,” Amari Rose, a nursing major and freshman said.
The campus life portion advertises the friendly cohorts of students at the university along with a lively roster of activities.
There’s still more interest in events on campus. “I say more things,” Thornton said.
In the past, VWU has also been ranked among The Princeton Review’s “The Best 389 Colleges: 2024 Edition.”
By Clay Yokom
