For the second year in a row, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Salem College as the No. 11 women’s college in the nation.

In the 2018 listing of the “Best National Liberal Arts Colleges,” among North Carolina-ranked schools Salem came in as the No. 2 liberal arts college and the No. 1 women’s college in the state.

“While we know that colleges rise and fall in rankings depending on the study and methodology, Salem is consistently ranked one of the best women’s colleges in the country,” said Katherine Knapp Watts, vice president for enrollment, financial aid, and communications at Salem College.

Overall, Salem was listed as No. 117 in the nation, which was up from No. 122 and No. 136 the last two years respectively. 

In the category of High School Counselor Rankings, Salem College came in at No. 118 in the nation

Best National Liberal Arts College rankings among North Carolina schools

1. Davidson College (10)

2. SALEM COLLEGE (117)

3. Guilford College (160-tie)
4. Warren Wilson College (160-tie)
5. Meredith College (163)

Best National Liberal Arts College rankings among private women’s colleges

1. Wellesley (3)
2. Smith (12)
3. Scripps (26 - tie)
4. Barnard (27 - tie)
5. Bryn Mawr (32)
6. Mount Holyoke (36)
7. Agnes Scott (61)
8. Spelman (61)
9. St. Mary’s, Notre Dame Indiana (101)
10. Hollins (112)

11. SALEM COLLEGE (117)

Salem’s category of National Liberal Arts Colleges includes only institutions which focus almost exclusively on undergraduate education, which awards at least 50 percent of their degrees in the arts and sciences.

To rank colleges and universities for the Best Colleges 2018 guidebook, U.S. News & World Report assigns institutions to categories developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Contributing to part of Salem’s success in this year’s rankings was the college’s small and intimate nature of classes including the fact that 86.9 percent of Salem classes have fewer than 20 students and the overall student-faculty ratio is 11:1.

The rankings in the Best Colleges 2017 guidebook are based on data U.S. News & World Report collects directly from colleges and universities, as well as from other sources. The magazine reported that 93.5 percent of the 1,374 colleges and universities it surveyed responded to its request for statistical information.

Complete U.S. News & World Report rankings are available at www.usnews.com/best-colleges.

Salem continues to perform well in a variety of other recent national rankings. Late last month Salem was ranked 52 of all liberal arts colleges in the U.S. and Salem placed eleventh in the “Best Bang for the Buck” colleges in the southeast by Washington Monthly magazine’s 2017 College Rankings. Additionally, Salem College is one of only six N.C. institutions to be named among the top 150 colleges and universities nationwide on Forbes’ “Grateful Grads Index. Salem’s Online Masters of Education in School Counseling was ranked as the No. 15 Best Value in the nation by AffordableColleges.com. CollegeChoice.net. Finally, both USA Today and CollegeChoice recently named Salem as a Top 10 Best Colleges in North Carolina, along with Duke and Wake Forest universities.