A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff
University of Mary Washington earned top spots this week in two national college rankings, ‘Washington Monthly’ and ‘The Princeton Review.’
The University of Mary Washington took top spots in a pair of prestigious national college rankings, each released this week.
Encouraging college students to be active citizens, Washington Monthly’s 2021 College Rankings cite schools’ ability to promote social mobility, research and service. “We rate schools based on what they do for the country,” states the website for the publication, which included UMW in not one but two categories: Best Master’s Universities and Best Bang for the Buck.
Washington Monthly, which judges schools on their commitment to contributing to the greater good, recognized UMW for providing marketable degrees at affordable prices. The Princeton Review’s college rankings, based on feedback from actual students, placed Mary Washington in the top 14 percent of the nation’s thousands of four-year colleges and universities. Read more.
UMW made the Best Master’s Universities and Best Bang for the Buck lists in Washington Monthly’s 2019 College Rankings guide. Unlike some other guides, the publication bases its measurements on service.
The University of Mary Washington kicked off the Fall 2019 semester by racking up a ranking based on one of its core principles – service.
As students hurried across campus on the first official day of classes, Washington Monthly today released its 2019 College Rankings, placing UMW among the nation’s elite by including it in not one but two categories: Best Master’s Universities and Best Bang for the Buck. Departing from measurements used by other college guides, Washington Monthly distinguishes itself as “rating schools based on what they do for the country and the public good.” Since 2005, the magazine has ranked institutions on their ability to promote upward mobility, produce scholars and scholarship, and encourage students to be active citizens.
The university was listed among 671 other schools across the nation and was one of only two Virginia institutions to make the top 25.
The Washington Monthly rates schools based on their contribution to the public good. The criteria includes social mobility that encompasses recruiting and graduating low-income students; research that produces cutting-edge scholarships and Ph.D.s; and service that encourages students to give back to their country.
“Unlike U.S. News and World Report and similar guides, this one asks not what colleges can do for you, but what colleges are doing for the country,” wrote editors of the Washington Monthly college guide. “Are they educating low-income students, or just catering to the affluent? Are they improving the quality of their teaching, or ducking accountability for it? Are they trying to become more productive—and if so, why is average tuition rising faster than health care costs? Every year we lavish billions of tax dollars and other public benefits on institutions of higher learning. This guide asks: Are we getting the most for our money?”
The University of Mary Washington’s academic reputation has garnered national recognition in numerous selective guidebooks including U.S. News and World Report, Forbes, the Fiske Guide to Colleges and the Princeton Review’s 2015 edition of “The Best 379 Colleges.”UMW has received more accolades this week. The Washington Monthly magazine has named Mary Washington the top public master’s university in the mid-Atlantic region in a ranking of how colleges are meeting public obligations in the areas of research, service, and social mobility. In addition, Parade Magazine has named UMW one of the best small state schools in its “College A-List.” Read the press release.