The US Best Colleges guidebook for 2024 has ranked Calvin University fourth overall in the Midwest Regional Universities category.
In the guidebook by News & World Report, the university is also considered among the best when it comes to undergraduate teaching, merit-based aid awarding, international student enrollment, and first-year retention.
The digital news and information company just eleased the report online, which helps prospective students and their families evaluate 1,500 U.S. four-year bachelor’s degree-granting colleges and universities based on up to 19 measures of academic quality and graduate outcomes.
These include such things as first-year retention rates, graduation rates, strength of faculty, and graduate indebtedness.
In the Midwest Regional Universities category, Calvin University sits near the top of a few lists. Calvin ranks second for “Most international students,” with 13% of the student body hailing from outside the United States, third in “Freshmen Retention Rate” with 86% of first-year students returning for a second year, and fifth in the “Best Undergraduate Teaching” category. The university is also considered a “Best Value School,” ranking 20th on that list.
“Ranking guides like U.S. News & World Report take into consideration the most important factors prospective students and families are looking for in a college education,” said Lauren Jensen, vice president of enrollment strategy at Calvin. “To be ranked near the top of so many of these lists and to be in high demand both in-state and around the globe is validation that Calvin is a great place for students to thrive both in college and after graduation.”
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In addition to Calvin’s high rankings compared to other schools in the Midwest, the university also stood out nationally for its awarding of merit-based aid. Calvin placed 35th out of all colleges and universities on a list that ranked the schools with the highest percentage of students in 2022-2023 who “had no financial need and who were awarded institutional non-need-based scholarship or grant aid,” excluding athletic awards and tuition benefits.
Calvin holds the second highest ranking in the state of Michigan (only Kettering University ranks higher) and remains in the top 50 of the “Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs” list, which ranks all colleges and universities in the United States that are non-doctorate-granting institutions. Calvin also appears on lists that highlight the best computer science programs and best nursing programs in the country.
In addition to the U.S. News & World Report rankings, Calvin University also receives high marks from a number of other leading ranking guidebooks, including Fiske Guide to Colleges, Forbes, Money, Niche, Washington Monthly, and the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education, to name a sampling.
And, the Princeton Review, which includes Calvin as one of the best institutions for undergraduates to earn their college degree, also lists it as the 12th best school nationwide for its student support and counseling services.
Founded in 1876, Calvin University is a top-ranked, liberal arts institution that equips its 3,300 students from 48 U.S. states, 55 countries, and five Canadian provinces to think deeply, to act justly, and to live wholeheartedly as Christ’s agents of renewal in the world.
Calvin offers 100+ majors and programs, including a growing portfolio of graduate-level offerings. Calvin students engage in intensive internships, community-based service learning, and significant research that results in publishing and presenting alongside world-class faculty. The university’s 400-acre campus is in the vibrant city of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Calvin has as Vice Chancellor, Wiebe Boer who was until recently the CEO of All On, a Shell funded renewable energy support firm in Lagos
