Denison University, a perennial fixture among the rankings of top colleges in the nation, continues to rise on many of these lists.
The most recent publication to cite Denison's upward trajectory is Forbes. Its 2014 ranking of “America's Top Colleges” places Denison at 95th, up from 130th just one year ago.
The Forbes list is unique in that it considers all U.S. colleges in its ranking rather than segmenting public from private, large from small, and graduate from baccalaureate. It also distinguishes itself from competitors by its “belief in output over input,” saying that it's “not all that interested in what gets a student into college,” but instead that its “sights are set directly on ROI: What are students getting out of college?”
Denison's high ranking and rising trend in Forbes are the result of a combination of factors, most notably its high degree of student satisfaction and demonstrated post-graduate success, as well as its exemplary graduation rate and outstanding academic success, which is measured by the large number of Denison students who win prestigious scholarships and fellowships, and who go on to earn a Ph.D. In the Forbes ranking, Denison is listed just above University of Richmond, Mount Holyoke College, University of the South, Sarah Lawrence College and Furman University, which round out the nation's top tier. The entire list includes 650 of America's best colleges.
In its profile of Denison, Forbes not only calls out some longstanding campus traditions, but also points to accomplished alumni, such as “actors Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner, as well as ESPN president George Bodenheimer and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.”
The Forbes ranking comes on the heels of Money Magazine's first-ever college ranking list, which it calls “Money's Best Colleges.” In the Money list, Denison University is included, not only as one of the “best colleges” in the nation, but also as one of the leaders on the list.
Equally impressive is Denison's inclusion as a featured school in Loren Pope's seminal higher education book, “Colleges That Change Lives.” In addition to the current ranking, Forbes also has commended Denison for exceptional outcomes and alumni success in its recent “America's Top ROI Colleges” ranking.
And buoyed by its strong academics, exceptional graduation rate and glowing reputation among other colleges, Denison is a perennial top-50 school in U.S. News and World Report's ranking of America's Best Colleges.
“Classes are small, individual attention is the norm,” says the widely recognized Fiske Guide to Colleges about Denison. The guide also holds up Denison's internship and off-campus programs, and it praises the college's generous financial aid. In addition, Fiske notes that some of the more interesting courses of study, such as the major offered in “Philosophy, Political Science and Economics,” are unique to Denison, and it remarks about the quality of the physical sciences and modern languages, programs that offer “loads of experiential learning and close collaboration with faculty.” Denison also gets superior ratings for its selectivity, its highly effective career development, and its setting in picturesque Granville, including the beautiful campus and the expansive biological reserve.
In Kiplinger's “Best Values in Liberal Arts Colleges” ranking, Denison emerges as the No. 1 school in Ohio, placing ahead of Kenyon, Oberlin and Wooster. DU also rises to 23rd among the nation's best liberal arts schools, surpassing such schools as Lafayette College, University of Richmond, Scripps College, Macalester, Bates College, Bucknell University, Pitzer, Smith, Connecticut College, University of the South, Trinity, Skidmore, Franklin & Marshall, Dickinson and Occidental.
In its list of the “10 Most Wired Colleges In The Country,” the Huffington Post placed Denison at No. 7, between Carnegie Mellon University (No. 6) and Wake Forest (No. 8). The Huffington Post defines these 10 schools as being “on the cutting edge of technology.”
Denison also is recognized regularly by the Princeton Review for its rigorous curriculum and its exemplary sustainability efforts.