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Princeton Review lists Wooster as a Best Value College

U.S. News ranks Wooster among the nation’s top 10 in its “Senior Capstone” category, alongside Ivy League schools, research universities, and major R1 institutions. The distinction recognizes schools where graduates cap their education through a project that “integrates and synthesizes what they’ve learned” in a way that stands out compared to other institutions.

Wooster plays a critical role in preparing students for success in obtaining graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, with a particular significance for women and underrepresented minority STEM baccalaureate graduates. A 2019 report published by the Council of Independent Colleges and based on data from National Center for Education Statistics and National Science Foundation ranked public and private institutions based on an institutional-yield ratio that removes the impact of the size of the student body. Wooster ranks No. 33 in the top 100 U.S. institutions where STEM doctorate recipients earn bachelor’s degrees, and No. 21 for women doctoral recipients in STEM. Wooster also ranks in the top 50 among U.S. baccalaureate-origin institutions of women doctorate recipients in the areas of biological sciences (No. 47), chemistry (No. 3), life sciences (No. 42), and physical sciences (No. 6).

Loren Pope, founder of Colleges That Change Lives, called 69ֱ�� “my original best-kept secret in higher education…I can testify that there is no better college in the country.”

New York Times columnist Ron Lieber praises Wooster for its exceptional combination of quality faculty, affordability, and undergraduate research in his new book, The Price You Pay for College. Lieber devotes an entire chapter to answering How the College of Wooster Puts It All Together, highlighting Wooster’s up-front attitude in helping prospective students understand the financial package they will receive and the satisfaction students get from faculty mentorship.

In the largest-ever survey of 30,000 college graduates, Gallup found that having a mentor in college and working on a long-term project were two of the most powerful factors linked to having “great jobs and great lives” after graduation.

Students surveyed for The Princeton Review in its guidebook, The Best 390 Colleges: 2025 Edition say “Students are happy,” “Classroom facilities are great,” there are “active minority support groups,” and “Internships are widely available.” The character of Wooster’s campus community is called “friendly beyond measure” and students talked about the variety of extracurricular and co-curricular opportunities part of life on campus. Independent study is a highlight of the undergraduate experience, and the school ‘teaches research and how to apply skills learned to the outside world.’”

The Fiske Guide to Colleges says “Instead of teaching students what to think, the College of Wooster focuses on teaching students how to think. From the first courses of the freshman year seminar to the final day when seniors hand in their hard-won theses, the college paves each student’s path to independence…The one-to-one attention from faculty makes Wooster an intellectual refuge in the rural countryside of Ohio.”

In one of the newest set of U.S. college rankings, the Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education placed Wooster among the top 20 percent of the 801 institutions it looked at nationally, and 25th out of 212 Midwest institutions. The WSJ/THE assessment “puts student success and learning at its heart,” utilizing 15 performance indicators grouped into four pillar categories: resources, engagement, outcomes, and environment.