U.S. News & World Report Names Cottey College Among the Best

Today, U.S. News & World Report announced that Cottey College is nationally ranked in its annual 2017 U.S. News Best Colleges rankings. Cottey is listed at 22nd in Midwest Regional Colleges, representing 11 Midwestern states. This announcement follows on the heels of two national rankings by BestValueSchools.com.
“This is immensely gratifying,” said Dr. Jann Weitzel, president of Cottey College, “and confirms what we on campus always have known about Cottey. This College has been providing excellent education for women for over 130 years. Our faculty resources, financial resources, retention and graduation rates are top notch and to have those recognized by the industry leader in college rankings proves what we’ve been telling students and parents all along, Cottey is a great college.”
Cottey is one of only three schools in Missouri and one of only two women’s colleges listed in the Midwest rankings. Seventy-nine colleges from eleven states are included in the Midwest ranking.
U.S. News defines regional colleges as schools that “focus almost entirely on the undergraduate experience and offer a broad range of programs in the liberal arts.”
U.S. News bases its rankings on the following criteria: retention, assessment by peers and counselors, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance, and alumni giving rate. In the calculations 77.5 percent of a school’s ranking is based on a formula that uses subjective measures of academic quality. The remaining 22.5 percent is based on academic reputation, determined by a peer assessment from top academics at colleges.
“Rankings are helpful to prospective students and parents as they make their post-secondary educational choices,” said Dr. Weitzel. “They rank the strength of the academic program and give applicants information on key factors to consider when making a college choice. However, the best way to make that final decision is to visit campus and see if that college or university is the right fit. We hope this ranking will encourage more young women to visit Cottey and see for themselves what we have to offer.”
The rankings are available online at www.usnews.com/colleges.