Forbes magazine released its list of the top 650 colleges and universities in the nation and Salem College made the list at number 141 overall. Salem was also ranked number 123 among private colleges and number 36 among colleges in the South, and claimed the highest ranking of women’s colleges in the Southeast.

The Forbes list, which is released annually, ranks schools based on criteria important to students—quality of teaching, great career prospects, graduation rates and low levels of debt. The rankings are based on five general categories: post graduate success, which evaluates alumni pay and prominence; student satisfaction, which includes professor evaluations and freshman to sophomore year retention rates; debt, which penalizes schools for high student debt loads and default rates; four year graduation rate and competitive awards, which rewards schools whose students win prestigious scholarships and fellowships.