CWRU moves to No. 4 in ”Washington Monthly” rankings of best universities

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Washington Monthly best colleges logoCase Western Reserve climbed to fourth among national universities in The Washington Monthly’s annual rankings of colleges that best contribute to the nation’s future.

Released today, the magazine’s ratings focus on three categories: social mobility, research production, and commitment to service. In 2011, Case Western Reserve broke into the Top 10 with a seventh-place finish, and repeated that result last year.

“Colleges and universities help advance society through learning and discovery,” President Barbara R. Snyder said. “We appreciate Washington Monthly’s recognition of our commitment to excellence, innovation and engagement in our community.”

Case Western Reserve’s new ranking puts it directly in front of such leading institutions as the University of California at Berkeley (fifth), Stanford University (sixth), and Harvard University (eighth). The University of California at San Diego topped the list for the fourth straight year.

Case Western Reserve earned some of its greatest distinction within the service category. The university ranked third overall for its institutional commitment to service—a calculation based on the institution’s staff, support and courses focused on such engagement. The university placed 12th in community service participation and hours volunteered, and 13th for the proportion of alumni who enter the Peace Corps relative to overall school size.

For research, the university is 20th in the nation for the percentage of its bachelor’s graduates who go on to earn PhDs, again relative to school size. The campus finished 32nd for faculty awards and 43rd for research expenditures.

In terms of social mobility, 21 percent of undergraduates receive Pell Grants, a federal financial award designed to assist low-income students in attending college. Case Western Reserve’s figure is higher than every other private university in the magazine’s top 50 except Emory (at 23 percent). Case Western Reserve has a higher proportion of Pell Grant recipients than several public institutions as well, including Ohio State (20 percent). Nevertheless, the university’s graduation rate falls below its predicted rate based on the characteristics of the incoming class; this shortcoming helped drive down Case Western Reserve’s “cost-adjusted grad rate performance rank” to 264. In similar company were Duke (231st), Emory (236th), Johns Hopkins (247th) and CalTech (277th).

The top 10 national universities in Washington Monthly’s 2013 rankings are:

  1. University of California-San Diego
  2. University of California-Riverside
  3. Texas A&M University
  4. Case Western Reserve University
  5. University of California-Berkeley
  6. Stanford University
  7. University of Texas-El Paso
  8. Harvard University
  9. Georgia Institute of Technology
  10. University of California-Los Angeles

For more information, or to read the full article, visit the magazine’s website.