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:
- No. 42 among the country’s national liberal arts colleges
- No. 41 on comprehensive “Best Values” list
- No. 8 in the United States for social mobility
- No. 2 for alumni satisfaction as measured by annual giving
- No. 1 for the highest proportion of classes under 20 students (100 percent) and the lowest proportion of classes with more than 50 students (0 percent)
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- High ratings for academics (90), financial aid (94), and 98 for tutors’ accessiblity
- One of only 10 colleges nationwide to be named to the Financial Aid Honor Roll
- Top 15 percent of American four-year colleges
- Top 20 for “Most Religious Students,” “Great Financial Aid,” and “Best Classroom Experience”
- One of the country’s 200 Best Value Colleges
- 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.”
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- One of only 15 recommended colleges and universities in the United States
- “Impressive intellectual rigor that is matched by a commitment to orthodox Catholicism.”
- “The first in a wave of new Catholic colleges born from the crisis of Catholic identity in American Catholic higher education.”
- “The only Catholic college in America that teaches exclusively from [the] classic works of Western civilization.”
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- Top 2 percent of country’s major colleges and universities
- One of six 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 for strength of curriculum
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- “Devoted to providing a strong education while being rooted in the Roman Catholic faith”
- “Great student to faculty ratio”
- “Excellent graduation and freshman retention rates”
- “Diverse student body that comes from states all across the nation”
- Also listed among Best 10 Colleges for the Money
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- One of only 38 “faithfully Catholic colleges and universities nationwide” chosen for the “Catholic Identity College Guide”
- Perfect marks for all 10 measures of campus fidelity and moral climate
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- “The best college class I ever attended, undergraduate or graduate, was at Thomas Aquinas College.”
- “[Students] backed up their comments with evidence and careful, logical arguments.”
- “I shall remember this class, where I was but a guest, for the rest of my life.”
- “A rigorous great books curriculum”
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- No. 1 among all colleges and universities
- Only Catholic school to be named to the Top 20
- Rankings based on outstanding academics and affordable cost
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- Among top 100 American liberal arts colleges for “contribution to the public good”
- Top 50 for “Best Bang for the Buck” in the Western United States
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