The Princeton Review included Drew University on its list of the best 389 colleges. Drew’s accolades also increased with the releases of Washington Monthly, U.S. News and World Reports college rankings.
In addition to The Princeton Review’s 389 Best Colleges, Drew can be found on the Best Value list, an honor it has maintained for five years.
The Washington Monthly placed Drew at 73rd in their list of Best Liberal Arts Colleges, an increase from Drew’s ranking of 99th in 2022.
“Drew faculty are incredible teachers and mentors who provide impactful opportunities for students. This leads to student success and great outcomes, which are some of the meaningful metrics used in many rankings,” said Dean of Students Ryan Hinrichs, commenting on this 26-place jump. “Several student success metrics, such as retention and graduation rates, are at the highest levels in over a decade, which likely contributed to these improved rankings.”
The U.S. News and World Reports ranked Drew 93rd overall in 2024 National Liberal Arts Colleges, as well as tenth in the Social Mobility category.
“I am delighted to see Drew highlighted in these national rankings and am especially proud of our high ranking in Social Mobility,” said Hinrichs.
The Social Mobility Category is particularly notable because “it does reflect something, that’s not subjective, that’s real data,” said Dr. Sandra Jamieson, English professor and director of Writing Across the Curriculum. On their website, U.S. News and World Reports states that they generate their social mobility score by assessing Pell-awarded and first generation college students’ graduation rates.
“Liberal colleges like Drew have a reputation as being for rich kids to go to, and so you can buy yourself an education by going to a school like this,” whereas “people who don’t have money end up going to ‘lesser schools,’” said Jamieson. She explained this was the case when she first came to Drew, as “there were a few scholarship programs that students could come on but there really wasn’t a lot of opportunity if you didn’t have a wealthy background.”
Jamieson emphasized the importance of not only creating opportunities to bring students to Drew through scholarships, but also retaining students through support systems. “The data seems to say, you can get students here, but you actually have to graduate them,” said Jamieson. “So we had to do more both in terms of finances but also in terms of support. Especially if you’re a first generation college student, there’s just a lot of stuff you don’t know.”
Drew’s Launch program, Center for Academic Excellence and University Writing Center all contribute to this support system for students that Jamieson describes. In addition, Jamieson leads Drew’s Writing Fellows program, contributing to the support Drew provides.
“One of the things I really like about Drew is that the faculty are really committed to the students. And I think we’ve been able to use that commitment—through the launch program, the coaches are really important in terms of athletics, there’s different types of mentors and fellows,” said Jamieson. “Everytime you turn around there are support systems in place and they are really paying off and I think that’s exciting.”
Katie Carmichael is a junior majoring in English creative writing and minoring in education.
