Rankings and Recognitions That Really Matter

For a college or university, favorable mention in guidebooks and college rankings aimed at popular audiences is always gratifying. However, what is more meaningful to us are those rankings and recognitions that demonstrate the actual outcomes of a St. Olaf education and the quality of the education we provide to our students. Here are a few in which St. Olaf takes particular pride.

  • According to the National Science Foundation's Survey of Earned Doctorates, St. Olaf ranks 8th overall among the nation's 213 baccalaureate colleges in the number of graduates who go on to earn doctoral degrees.

    St. Olaf earned top 10 rankings in the following fields: mathematics and statistics (1st); religion and theology (2nd); arts and music (3rd); foreign languages (3rd); chemistry (6th); physics (8th); and biological sciences (10th).

  • St. Olaf has had nine Rhodes Scholars. Since 1996, the college has produced more Rhodes Scholars than any other liberal arts college in the nation. Two St. Olaf seniors were selected in the 2008 awards competition. Over the past two decades, only two other liberal arts colleges have had the honor of having two selections in a single year.

  • Two St. Olaf students were named Fulbright Scholars for 2009–10. Since 1990, 74 St. Olaf students have received prestigious Fulbright scholarships.

  • 26 St. Olaf students have received Goldwater scholarships since 1995. The scholarships, which are granted to sophomores and juniors in mathematics, science and engineering, are selected on the basis of academic merit.

  • More than two-thirds of all St. Olaf students study abroad before graduating. According to the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors 2008 Report on International Educational Exchange, St. Olaf ranked 2nd among baccalaureate institutions in the total number of students studying abroad for the 2006–07 academic year.

  • St. Olaf consistently ranks as one of the "Top 25" small colleges and universities in the nation (5,000 students or fewer) in the number of graduates who serve in the Peace Corps. For 2009, St. Olaf placed 2nd among its peers (up from 9 the previous year) in current Peace Corps volunteers. Since the program's founding in 1961, 463 St. Olaf College alumni have served in the Peace Corps.

  • St. Olaf had 37 National Merit Scholars in the freshman class that arrived on campus in the fall of 2009. In 2008, with 53 scholars, St. Olaf ranked 3rd among liberal arts colleges and 47th overall among the more than 3,000 accredited four-year colleges and universities in the nation in the number of merit scholars in that year's class.

  • St. Olaf is consistently one of the nation's most successful undergraduate institutions in preparing students for medical school. Upwards of 80 percent of St. Olaf graduating seniors who apply to medical school gain admission, compared to a national acceptance rate of approximately 49-50 percent.

  • St. Olaf has earned six Academic All-American selections: three in baseball and one each in football, volleyball, and women’s track and field. Fifty-seven student-athletes received Academic All-Conference recognitions by the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 2008–09.