Marietta College

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Marietta remains in Top 10 of U.S. News' annual rankings

College has been ranked for 33 consecutive years

Marietta, Ohio (09/12/2017) — Marietta College placed eighth among Best Regional Colleges in the 2018 U.S. News & World Report survey, released today.

Marietta, which shared the No. 8 spot last year with Dordt College, is tied with the Iowa school again. Each have overall scores of 83.

This is the 33rd consecutive year Marietta has made the Top 10 list. Overall, there were 80 colleges included in the Midwest rankings. When compared to other regional rankings, Marietta's overall score of 83 would put it No. 3 in the South, No. 4 in the North and No. 7 in the West.

If you combined all of the regions together, which ranks 240 colleges and universities, Marietta would be tied for 19th overall.

"Marietta continues to shine as one of the best private, liberal arts colleges in the country," said Steve Lazowski, Vice President for Enrollment Management. "It is always rewarding to see such esteemed publications like U.S. News & World Report recognize our excellence in providing students a quality contemporary liberal arts degree at an extraordinary value."

The rankings help prospective students and their families obtain a glimpse of the relative quality of each college and university. That quality is based on 15 indicators of academic excellence, according to U.S. News & World Report's ranking explanation. Those indicators include first-year student retention numbers, graduation rates and quality of faculty, among other metrics. Each of those factors is weighted, and then the college is ranked against peer institutions based on the composite weighted score.

Three areas Marietta excels in are Percent of Classes under 20 students (79 percent), Average Alumni Giving Rate (17 percent) and Freshmen in top 25 percent of high school class (53 percent).

The top institutions in the Midwest include Calvin College (Grand Rapids, Michigan), Taylor University (Upland, Indiana), Augustana University (Sioux Fall, South Dakota), Ohio Northern University (Ada, Ohio), College of the Ozarks (Point Lookout, Missouri), Goshen College (Goshen, Indiana), Cottey College (Nevada, Missouri) and sharing the eighth spot with Marietta, Dordt College (Sioux Center, Iowa).

Located in Marietta, Ohio, at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers, Marietta College is a four-year liberal arts college. Tracing its roots to the Muskingum Academy begun in 1797, the College was officially chartered in 1835. Today Marietta College serves a body of 1,200 full-time students. The College offers 45 majors and has been listed among Barron's Best Buys in College Education and Peterson's Competitive Colleges, and has been recognized as one of the top regional comprehensive colleges by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, as well as one of the nation's best by Forbes.com.

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