U.S. News released its list of top colleges and universities. Who's on it?
The University of Mississippi is the state's top university, according to the U.S. News and World Report's 2024 rankings, and Millsaps leads the state as the top liberal arts college.
On the national stage, Ole Miss ranked No. 163 and Millsaps ranked No. 124 on their respective lists.
The news didn't come as a surprise to Millsaps' interim President Keith Dunn, but it was exciting news for the college.
"Everything we do here is about the students and about supporting our students," he said.
Ole Miss also credits its success to its support of students.
"U.S. News & World Report’s recognition of the University of Mississippi as the top university in the state — and the best value — is a testament to our impact in the state and an indication of our commitment to students and their families," Jacob Batte, director of News and Media Relations at the University of Mississippi said in an email.
U.S. News & World Report this year made some changes to its rankings formula, the organization reported in a story about the 2024 list of Best Colleges.
U.S. News reported it dropped or modified some criteria and added a few new ones.
"As in past years, changes in methodology, together with changes in individual schools' data, can result in significant changes to schools' rankings," the news organization reported.
"We increased the emphasis on how often schools' students from all socioeconomic backgrounds earned degrees and took advantage of information on graduate outcomes that was not available until recently."
Dunn said some of the criteria focused on graduation rates and first-year retention rates.
"Those are things that work in our favor," he said, "with our concentration on student support — academic support and comprehensive student support."
Another big plus for Millsaps has been its efforts to diversify its student body "significantly over the last couple of decades," Dunn said.
"We have grown from an institution that was around 20% Pell (Grant) eligible students to the last several years, where we are over 40% Pell eligible," he said. "Millsaps is really focused on being a place of academic excellence but it is also a place of opportunity in academics."
Mississippi State University (216), William Carey University (345), the University of Southern Mississippi (352) and Mississippi College (369) round out the state's Top 5 universities. Their national rankings are in parentheses. Belhaven University and Jackson State University also made the list.
After Millsaps, Mississippi's Top 3 liberal arts colleges include Tougaloo College (181) and Rust College.
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This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Ole Mis, Millsaps top universities in Mississippi, US News reports
