The University of Massachusetts Amherst has once again climbed the list of the country’s best colleges released by U.S. News & World Report, rising one spot this year to number 74.
Amherst College, Smith College and Mount Holyoke College captured top spots on the list of best liberal arts colleges, while Hampshire College remains disqualified from the publication’s rankings because it does not accept standardized test scores from applicants.
UMass has risen 25 spots in the U.S. News national rankings since 2010. The publication’s 2017 Best Colleges guide, released Tuesday, ranks schools based on factors such as graduation rate, academic reputation, retention rate, alumni giving and selectivity.
UMass this year also rose two positions in U.S. News’ list of the nation’s best public universities to number 27. It has risen 25 spots on that list since 2010.
“This year’s ranking by U.S. News is a recognition of the outstanding academic programs on our campus and the excellence of our faculty, students, staff and alumni,” UMass Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy said in a statement. “Our steady rise in these rankings is a reflection of our campus’ commitment to offer exceptional educational opportunities to our students whose success will have a profound impact in shaping the commonwealth’s future success.”
Some 41,000 students applied for admission to UMass this semester, a 2 percent increase over the last year. The average SAT score was 1225 and students on average ranked in the top fifth of their graduating high school class, according to the statement.
Amherst College was ranked the second best liberal arts college in the nation by the magazine, topped only by Williams College in Williamstown.
Smith College in Northampton was tied for number 12 on the same list, while Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley shared number 36.
Meantime, Hampshire College in Amherst remains disqualified from the rankings after its second year of not accepting SAT and ACT scores from applicants.
The college stopped accepting the scores in June 2014 as part of a revamped enrollment strategy to attract and retain students whose learning styles fit best with the self-directed nature of Hampshire. As a result, Dean of Enrollment Meredith Twombly said in a release that this year’s first-year class is more racially diverse and retention of first-year students has risen since before the policy change.
In addition, the percentage of accepted applicants who chose to attend the college was higher in each of the two years following the change, she said.
Twombly said the rankings fail to consider whether colleges produce successful alums and instead measure how well schools attract students with high GPAs and standardized test scores.
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com.