Washington Monthly Ranks Harvey Mudd No. 3

Harvey Mudd College ranked No. 3 among liberal arts colleges in Washington Monthly’s 2018 College Guide and Rankings issue, a survey of U.S. colleges and universities based on public service.

The ranking’s methodology focuses on social mobility, research contributions and service, including factors such as recruitment and graduation rates of low-income students, percentage of alumni who go on to get PhDs and number of students participating in community service.

“Instead of rewarding schools that reject 95 percent of applicants, we give high marks to colleges that enroll lots of low-income students and help them graduate and earn a good living without too much debt,” wrote Kevin Carey, director of the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation and guest editor of the college guide.

“We factor in pure research spending and the number of undergraduates who go on to earn PhDs. And we give extra weight to colleges that send their graduates out into the world to serve the community at large,” Carey wrote.

Harvey Mudd rates highly in these and many other survey factors with its emphasis on community engagement, integration of community service into the curriculum, support of student service organizations, collaborative programs in local schools and mission to educate socially responsible leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In the most recent NSF report on baccalaureate origins of science and engineering PhDs, Harvey Mudd ranked first in the nation among liberal arts colleges for percentage of alumni who go on to earn a PhD in science and engineering and second among all U.S. universities and colleges.