Washington Monthly: Bryn Mawr Is the Best
At Doing Well by Doing Good

Bryn Mawr is good for the country – better than any other liberal-arts college in the nation, says the Washington Monthly. Last month, the College took the top spot among liberal-arts schools in the publication's annual college rankings, which aim to measure how well colleges and universities serve the public interest by fostering research, an ethic of national service and social mobility.

Washington Monthly initiated its college rankings last year, after publishing several articles that criticized the criteria used by other popular college guides and calling on institutions of higher education to release data that would, the Monthly says, provide more information about how much learning actually takes place on college campuses.

“We started with a different assumption about what constitutes the 'best' schools,” the Monthly 's editors said. “We asked ourselves: What are reasonable indicators of how much a school is benefiting the country?”

The editors settled on three broad categories: research, public service and social mobility. For liberal-arts colleges, the research score is based on a school's total spending on research as well as the percentage of alumni who go on to earn a Ph.D. The public-service score considers “the percentage of a school's students enrolled in the Army and Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps; the percentage of its alumni who are currently serving in the Peace Corps; and the percentage of its federal work-study grants devoted to community service projects.” The social-mobility score is based on an analysis of the percentage of low-income students the school enrolls and those students' graduation rates.

It's not surprising that Bryn Mawr earned high marks in all three categories, says Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Jenny Rickard. “Bryn Mawr looks for candidates who aim to make a meaningful contribution to the world,” she says. “And the college transforms that commitment into action in ways that students might not have contemplated. First-generation college students graduate from Bryn Mawr and go on to earn Ph.D.s.”

“What's especially gratifying about this ranking is that we earned it simply by being who we are, rather than jockeying for position on the list,” Rickard continues. The Monthly 's editors have decried the effect of the US News and World Report rankings on colleges' priorities. “In an era of gimmickry and gamesmanship, it's great to be rewarded for standing by our values,” says Rickard.

The news of the Monthly 's rankings was greeted with particular enthusiasm in the College's Civic Engagement Office.

“The students we work with really try to live their values,” says Ellie Esmond, the office's training and program coordinator. “In my observation, they tend to make life choices that reflect their politics and their commitment to social justice, which ensures that their lives reflect their desire to connect with their communities in meaningful ways.”

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