Individual college guides often tend to focus on a narrow set of criteria, but when taken together, they can help to present a more complete picture. Below is a summary of the College’s reviews in the latest editions of the various publications:
- Highest possible rating for academics and financial aid (99)
- One of only 10 colleges nationwide to be named to the Financial Aid Honor Roll
- Named to select list of Best Value Colleges
- Quality of Life rating: 97
- Top 15 percent of American four-year colleges
- Top 20 for “Most Religious Students,” “Happiest Students,” and “Best Classroom Experience.”
- Results from student survey include: 1) Thomas Aquinas College is a school that “takes learning seriously for its own sake, not just as preparation for a job;” 2) the College has “a strong Catholic identity” and “a rigorous curriculum,” where “professors … lead you to truth without forcing it on you;” and 3) “You get all kinds of people here — but one thing they have in common is a desire to search for the truth.”
- Top 2 percent of country’s major colleges and universities
- One of only three colleges in the U.S. to receive a perfect score for ensuring that students study seven key areas: composition, literature, American history, foreign language, mathematics, science, and economics.
- Highest rating — “A” — for strength of curriculum
- One of only 33 colleges chosen for the “Catholic Identity College Guide ’12”
- Favorable marks in all 10 measures of campus fidelity and moral climate
- One of only 22 colleges and universities in the United States recommended “for fidelity and excellence”
- “Stands alone as the only Catholic college that exclusively teaches from the Great Books, with an impressive intellectual rigor that is matched by a commitment to orthodox Catholicism”
- “Fully committed to its Catholic identity, its Great Books approach, and a discussion-style class format utilizing Socratic dialogue”
- “Stimulating but not intimidating … intellectual, yet relaxed and personal”
- One of 23 Top Catholic Colleges
- “Unique among the nation’s Catholic institutions of higher learning”
- “Approaches liberal education with a clear sense of purpose”
- “A broad and integrated liberal education”
- “Ranks highly among national liberal arts colleges”
- “Wins praise for its small classes and its value”
- Top 20 percent of all colleges and universities nationwide
- Top 100 private institutions
- Top 10 Catholic schools
- “One of the strongest curricula in the U.S.”
- A “corporate commitment to a rationally knowable objective reality”
- “Does not press its ideas onto students through lectures and textbooks, but genuinely tries to lead them through the Socratic method, placing the emphasis on their own reasoning powers as engaged with a text and other readers”
- Top 10, Best Values in Private Colleges Under $20K (net)
- Top 100, “Best Values in Liberal Arts Colleges”
- Rankings based on academic excellence, freshman retention rate, graduation rate, and net cost
The Princeton Review [1]
U.S. News & World Report: “Best Colleges” [4]
Association of College Trustees and Alumni [7] 
National Catholic Register [8]
The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College [9]
About.com [10]
Intercollegiate Studies Institute [13]
Kiplinger: “100 Best Values in Private Colleges” [14]