Key Takeaways:
- Reed College and Deep Springs College are highlighted for exceptional faculty and engagement with students in small class sizes.
- Small colleges emphasize personalized education, mentorship, and close relationships between students and professors for a rewarding academic experience.
- Professors at small colleges are dedicated to teaching, mentorship, and student success, fostering a supportive and collaborative learning environment.
How great can a small college be without top professors? Indeed, professors—along with the campus, course offerings, and academic rigor—are often what set the very best colleges and universities apart from the rest. So that got us wondering: what are the 50 small colleges with the best professors?
To come up with our list, we looked only at the nation’s “small” colleges, or colleges with fewer than 15,000 students. Then, we considered each school’s academic reputation, its student-faculty ratio, and composite faculty ranking on ratemyprofessor.com. Only the best schools made our alphabetical list of the 50 Small Colleges with the Best Professors.
Featured Programs
Reviewing the Best Small Colleges in the US with the Best Professors
Amherst College
Amherst, Massachusetts
The third-oldest college in Massachusetts is also home to some of the best professors in the United States. The academically rigorous private school, also a member of the prestigious Five Colleges consortium, offers more than 35 majors. If Amherst’s Rate My Professor ratings are any indication, the college’s professors in the mathematics department are among the best–not bad for a liberal arts school. But of course, a single department can’t launch a school to the coveted second-best spot on U.S. News & World Report’s list of America’s best liberal arts colleges.
Bates College
Lewiston, Maine
Located in Lewiston, Maine, Bates College is a small liberal arts college with a rich history. It offers instruction in the departments of the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering, and over the years, has produced a whopping 86 Fulbright Scholars, 22 Watson Fellows, 11 Olympians, 10 State Supreme Court Justices, five Pulitzer Prize winners, and even a U.S. presidential nominee. Today, the highest ranked professors at Bates come from the departments of Physical Education, Psychology, and Classical & Medieval Studies. Fun fact: Bates College was the first institute of higher learning to award degrees to black students and did so even before the Emancipation Proclamation.
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
The seventh-oldest college in the United States is also one of the 50 small colleges with the best professors. This world-class research facility employs an eight-to-one student-faculty ratio, a pretty impressive ratio considering Brown practices its “new curriculum” in which students are encouraged to manufacture their courses of study. According to Rate My Professor, languages, classics, and biology professors are the most popular, though we’re guessing anyone teaching at Brown is an exceptional educator. Past and current faculty include six Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer-prize winning historian Gordon S. Wood, former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, former Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso, former Chilean president Ricardo Lagos, and novelist Chinua Achebe, to name but a few.
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr College is a liberal arts college exclusively for academically gifted women. Top-rated Bryn Mawr professors come from the departments of Writing, Psychology, and History, but anyone who teaches here has big shoes to fill. The college has a long history of impressive faculty members, including President Woodrow Wilson, chemists Arthur C. Cope and Louis Fieser, historian Caroline Robbins, mathematician Emmy Noether, and Spanish philosopher Jose Ferrater Mora, among many others.
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California
California Institute of Technology, more commonly referred to as CalTech, is a private university best known for its strong programs in the technical arts and applied sciences. CalTech consistently ranks as one of the best universities in both the country and the world. Its highly successful alumni and faculty include 34 Nobel Prize winners, a Fields Medalist, six Turing Award winners, four Chief Scientists of the United States Air Force, and 71 recipients of the U.S. National Medal of Science or Technology. If that’s not impressive enough, more than 100 of CalTech’s current faculty members have been elected to the U.S. National Academies, which serves and advises the government on a number of issues. Fun fact: Sheldon Cooper, the fictional CalTech professor and main character of The Big Bang Theory, even has his own Rate My Professor ranking (a 2.6!).
Carleton College
Northfield, Minnesota
Historic Carleton College is a private liberal arts school located in Minnesota. Its long history of academic achievement has landed it spots on a number of college-ranking lists including U.S. News & World Report, which ranked Carleton the eighth best liberal arts school in the nation and the number one school for undergraduate teaching. Indeed, Carleton’s 245 faculty members must be doing something right. Since 2000, Carleton has produced 104 National Science Graduate Fellows, 24 NCAA Postgraduate Scholars, 91 Fulbright Scholars, 21 Watson Fellows, 13 Goldwater Scholars, and 18 Rhodes Scholars.
Claremont McKenna College
Claremont, California
Claremont McKenna College is a private liberal arts college and a member of the prestigious Claremont Colleges in California. Most recently, Claremont McKenna was ranked by Forbes as the 13th best liberal arts college in the nation, while U.S. News & World Report called it the 8th best. Either way, Claremont McKenna enjoys a reputation of being one of the best schools in the country, especially when it comes to majors within economics, government, and public affairs. According to Rate My Professor, the top-ranked instructors are in the departments of Literature and Economics, and include Eric Helland (Senior Economist at the Presidential Council of Economic Advisers), Mort Sahl (former Presidential speechwriter turned comedian), political scientist Minxin Pei, and author Jamaica Kincaid.
Clarke University
Dubuque, Iowa
Clarke University, located in Dubuque, Iowa, is a small liberal arts college associated with the Roman Catholic Church. It offers a broad range of majors and programs, though the fact that it is known regionally as the “College for the Arts” should give away what its most popular majors are. Indeed, according to Rate My Professors, Clarke’s most respected instructors are in the departments of English, Philosophy, and Art History. Games of Thrones author George R.R. Martin even taught English and journalism at Clarke.
Colby College
Waterville, Maine
Located in Maine, Colby College was founded in 1821 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution. Today, it’s one of the top liberal arts colleges, with some of the best professors in the nation. Colby offers 54 majors and 30 minors. According to Rate My Professors, the most popular professors are in the departments of Geology, Economics, and French & Italian. But those in other departments are doing something right, too. Colby was ranked the 12th best liberal arts college in the country by U.S. News & World Report, the 44th best school in the nation by Forbes, and the 65th best college by Washington Monthly.
Colorado College
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Combine some of the country’s best professors with a uniquely organized academic calendar, and you get a successful school like Colorado College, ranked by U.S. News as the 27th best liberal arts college. During each of Colorado’s eight short terms, professors instruct only one intense three-and-a-half week class. In turn, students take only one class per term so that they are “acquiring knowledge and living it.” According to Rate My Professors, the Spanish and Political Science departments have the most sought-after professors, though Colorado’s long list of former and current faculty is an impressive one.
College of Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Founded by three future signers of the Declaration of Independence, College of Charleston is one of the oldest schools in the country. Today, it’s best known for its tradition of excellence–due in large part to its top-notch faculty. Indeed, the college has one of the highest composite rankings of any school on the Rate My Professors website, while two its full-time instructors were included on Princeton Review’s list of The Best 300 professors in the nation.
Connecticut College
New London, Connecticut
The roughly 2,000 students at Connecticut College, a private liberal arts school, have access to some of the best professors working in higher education. The college employs a nine to one student-faculty ratio, and 92% of its 179 full-time professors hold a doctorate or equivalent. Students and faculty are encouraged to work together on research, conference presentations, and even published work. To make the talented faculty members even more accessible to students, the college offers four interdisciplinary centers (arts and technology, international studies and liberal arts, community action and public policy, and environmental studies) in order to “promote dialogue and research between faculty and students.”
Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire
At most colleges and universities, undergraduate students (and especially freshmen) are taught by teaching assistants. But not at Dartmouth. This top-ranked research institution enjoys an eight to one student-faculty ratio, and even the most senior professors teach freshman classes. Dartmouth’s government department was ranked the very best in the world by the London School of Economics, though according to Rate My Professor, the most sought-after instructors are from the departments of languages, computer science, and economics, the latter of which is Dartmouth’s most popular choice of major. Over its long history, Dartmouth and its professors have produced 170 members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 22 governors, 13 Pulitzer Prize winners, 10 billionaires, eight U.S. cabinet officials, three Nobel laureates, two Supreme Court justices, a U.S. Vice President, and dozens of Rhodes and Fulbright scholars.
Davidson College
Davidson, North Carolina
Davidson College is a private liberal arts school located in North Carolina. This highly selective school offers 26 majors and 17 minors, with the most popular professors, according to Rate My Professors, being those in the History, Psychology, and Biology departments. But that’s not to say the other departments aren’t just as impressive. Davidson has a student-faculty ratio of 10:1, and 96% of its full-time faculty members hold PhDs. Davidson has produced an amazing 23 Rhodes Scholars, making it one of the best options for Rhodes-ambitious students.
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina
Duke University, a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, consistently ranks among the very best schools in the world. It’s also been ranked the 11th most successful university when it comes to producing billionaires, and the 7th best school on Forbes’s list of “power factories.” Surely, such accolades are due in large part to Duke employing a 10:1 ratio of students to some of the nation’s best professors, 32 of whom have even been named on Thomas Reuter’s list of the most Highly Cited Researchers. Though Duke’s highest ranked professors on Rate My Professor come from the departments of Mathematics, Public Policy, and Theater, we think it’s pretty safe to say that just about any Duke professor is going to be one of the best.
Emory & Henry College
Emory, Virginia
Emory & Henry College is an historic private liberal arts college located in Virginia. Uniquely, its core curriculum consists of classes in history, literature, and culture. Students then have more than 50 bachelor’s degrees from which to choose to major. Regardless of a student’s chosen program of study, they are encouraged to work closely with professors on research, publications, and even conference presentations. According to Rate My Professors, Emory’s best professors teach science, psychology, and theology.
Franklin and Marshall College
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
For those students wanting to work closely with some of the best professors in the nation, Franklin and Marshall College might just be the perfect choice. Uniquely, the college allows undergraduates to get an early start on collaborative student-faculty research, which may be part of the reason that professors in departments like Psychology and Biology are some of the most popular. But those students who aren’t participating in faculty research shouldn’t worry. The college has a nine to one student-faculty ratio, and class sizes average a mere 19 students. No wonder Franklin & Marshall graduates have been called some of the best prepared in the country.
Harvey Mudd College
Claremont, California
Harvey Mudd College, a private liberal arts school that is part of the consortium of Claremont colleges, focuses on majors in the departments of mathematics, physical and biological sciences, and engineering. Thanks to its academically rigorous curriculum and its dedicated professors, Harvey Mudd College has been included in a number of national college rankings, including U.S. News & World Report (21st best liberal arts college), Forbes (59th best college in America), Kaplan (“new Ivy Leagues”), and Newsweek, among others. A number of top-notch professors have taught at Harvey Mudd over the course of its history, including college president Maria Klawe.
Haverford College
Haverford, Pennsylvania
When a small liberal arts college produces three Nobel laureates, six Pulitzer Prize recipients, 20 Rhodes scholars, and 104 Fulbright scholars, you know it must have some of the best professors around. That’s definitely the case with Haverford College. Haverford’s student-faculty ratio is a respectable nine to one, meaning students have plenty of access to their instructors. Indeed, every major requires a senior thesis, capstone project, or research project for graduation, while student-faculty collaboration is highly encouraged in earlier years.
Hillsdale College
Hillsdale, Michigan
Hillsdale College is a small selective college, and one of the top-ranked liberal arts schools in the nation. Consistent with the traditions of classical education, much of Hillsdale’s curriculum revolves around the Western heritage, and every student, regardless of major, is required to take core classes on the U.S. Constitution, the Western and American heritages, and the Great Books. While Hillsdale offers a number of majors in the sciences, it’s no wonder that the school’s top-rated professors, according to ratemyprofessors.com, are in the liberal arts.
Hollins University
Roanoke, Virginia
Hollins University is a women’s liberal arts school located in Roanoke, Virginia. Hollins has only about 800 students, small class sizes, and a nine to one student-faculty ratio. Such a close working proximity to instructors is especially helpful when considering the unique majors Hollins is known for: dance, creative writing, children’s literature, children’s book illustration, playwriting, and screenwriting, to name but a few. The university also offers the more traditional majors such as communications, classics, and political science, programs taught by Hollins’ highest ranked professors.
Kenyon College
Gambier, Ohio
Kenyon College, a liberal arts college located in Gambier, Ohio, is the oldest private college in the state and home to some of the best professors in the country. Kenyon consistently ranks as one of the top schools academically, and most recently has appeared on rankings by U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, and Newsweek, the latter of which selected Kenyon as one of 25 “New Ivies” students should be aware of. According to Rate My Professors, Kenyon’s top-ranked professors are in the departments of Anthropology, Languages, and Mathematics.
Macalester College
St. Paul, Minnesota
Located in Minnesota’s capital city, Macalester College is yet another private liberal arts school to have some of the nation’s best professors. One hundred seventy full-time faculty members teach the college’s 2,000 undergraduates, and 94% of those professors hold either a doctorate or their field’s highest available degree. This dedicated group of teachers has helped to launch Macalester onto a number of lists put together by U.S. News & World Report, including the Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the United States (23rd), best undergraduate teaching (6th), and the best value at a national liberal arts college (19th).
Middlebury College
Middlebury, Vermont
Founded more than 200 years ago, Middlebury College has a long history of excellence for both its students and faculty. It’s almost always included on lists of the best schools in the country, and was most recently named by U.S. News & World Report as the fourth best liberal arts college in the United States. Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts, humanities, literature, foreign languages, social sciences, and natural sciences, though their top-ranked professors, according to Rate My Professors, are in the departments of English, Biology, and Political Science. Notable past and present faculty have included authors Jay Parini and Julia Alvarez, former governor of Vermont Jim Douglas, poet Robert Frost, and environmentalist Bill McKibben, among many others.
Mount Holyoke College
South Hadley, Massachusetts
Considered one of the “other ivies,” Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts consistently ranks among the best schools in the country. Students at this highly selective college enjoy classes with a 10:1 student-faculty ratio. The best professors, according to Rate My Professors, are in the departments of Psychology, Languages, and Music, but Mount Holyoke doesn’t limit its students’ education to excellent professors. Dozens of successful visiting speakers come to campus each year, while internships or research partnerships with professors are also available.
North Greenville University
Tigerville, South Carolina
North Greenville University’s composite ranking of professors on Rate My Professors is so high that we doubt there is a sub-par instructor on campus. Indeed, the university’s profile includes professors from a number of different departments, nearly all of which have perfect scores. Such great professors are surely a large part of North Greenville’s national rankings. Most recently, North Greenville University was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the 27th best college in the South.
Oberlin College
Oberlin, Ohio
The oldest co-ed liberal arts school in the nation is also home to some of the best professors! Oberlin College, located in Ohio, offers more than 50 majors, minors, and concentrations for its high-achieving student body. According to Rate My Professors, Oberlin’s most sought-after instructors are in the departments of German, Music, and Physical Education, though we are willing to bet that with Oberlin’s highly respected reputation, any number of Oberlin’s faculty members might be considered the very best. Notable faculty both past and present have included novelist Toni Morrison, composer John Williams, and geologist George Nelson Allen, among many more.
Oklahoma Wesleyan University
Bartlesville, Oklahoma
Oklahoma Wesleyan University is a small evangelical Christian school located in Oklahoma, and one of the 50 small colleges with the best professors. Indeed, CBS MoneyWatch has even ranked it the school with the best professors in the nation three years running. According to the university’s provost, Robert Herron, this reputation enjoyed by Oklahoma Wesleyan boils down to the fact that its faculty members “choose to be here because of our mission, and they take a personal interest in the students.” According to Rate My Professors, whose composite teaching score helps to determine CBS MoneyWatch’s list, the most respected Oklahoma Wesleyan professors are in the science and psychology departments.
Pacific University
Forest Grove, Oregon
Pacific University, located in Oregon, is a small college with some of the best professors in the country. Pacific’s entire curriculum is based upon the importance of discovery in education, and the university credits its excellent professors for its top-tier reputation. The university’s small classes are teacher-focused, with lots of opportunities for experiential and inquiry-based learning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and student-faculty collaboration. According to Rate My Professors, Pacific’s most sought-after professors teach science, history, and English.
Pitzer College
Claremont, California
Pitzer College is yet another school of the Claremont Colleges consortium, and one of the nation’s small schools with the best professors. Pitzer focuses on majors within the fields of social sciences, behavioral sciences, international studies, and media studies, and according to Rate My Professor, its most sought-after instructors are those of history, art history, and political science. But every Pitzer College professor must be doing something right. Pitzer has produced more Fulbright scholars per capita than any other college in America for the last ten years straight, while U.S. News & World Report recognized Pitzer as the country’s 35th best liberal arts school.
Pomona College
Claremont, California
One of a few Claremont College members to make our list of small colleges with the best professors, Pomona College is a private liberal arts college located in California. This highly selective college is almost always included on lists of the country’s best colleges, and was even recently named the best college in the nation by Forbes. Today, Pomona’s top-ranked faculty members come from the departments of Political Science and Languages (specifically Spanish and German), but over the years have included such notable names as novelists David Foster Wallace and Jonathan Lethem, former U.S. ambassadors Cameron Munter and Michael Armacost, poet Claudia Rankine, and even NBA basketball coach Gregg Popovich.
Randolph College
Lynchburg, Virginia
Randolph College is a liberal arts and sciences college located in Lynchburg, Virginia. This small school, where poet Gary Dop is a professor, has produced such talent as Nobel- and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck, former senator Blanche Lincoln, and CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley. Randolph offers 30 majors and 44 minors, plus pre-professional programs in law, medicine, veterinary medicine, engineering, and teaching. According to Rate My Professors, its highest ranked instructors teach in the departments of science, psychology, and history.
Rice University
Houston, Texas
It shouldn’t be too surprising that Rice University, one of the most respected U.S. research institutions, is also one of the colleges with the best professors. Ranked as the 19th best school overall by U.S. News & World Report, Rice is especially strong in fields related to applied science (we’re talking nanotechnology, structural chemical analysis, and space science). Rice employs an amazing six to one student-faculty ratio and class size averages of only 16 students. Even more quality time spent with professors is available through various research and internship opportunities. No wonder Rice has produced over 100 Fulbright scholars, 20 Marshall scholars, 25 Mellon fellows, 12 Rhodes scholars, 6 Udall scholars, and 65 Watson fellows, plus hundreds of other successful alumni.
Sarah Lawrence College
Bronxville, New York
Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college with a curriculum that stresses the importance of student-faculty working relationships. Each student is assigned a faculty member to act as their mentor and advisor, just like at Cambridge and Oxford. And instead of large lectures taught by teaching assistants, most classes at Sarah Lawrence are actually seminars, in which students pursue independent study through one-on-one meetings with professors. Sarah Lawrence consistently ranks among the top colleges and universities in the nation, and was even ranked by Princeton Review as the #1 school in their “Professors Get High Marks” category.
Soka University of America
Aliso Viego, California
With only about 400 undergraduate students, Soka University of America is one of the smallest schools on our list of colleges with the best professors. The university employs an eight to one student-faculty ratio to ensure that professors remain as accessible to their students as possible. Soka, the sister school to the much larger Soka University of Japan, is a liberal arts college that emphasizes pacifism, human rights, and the coexistence of humans and nature. U.S. News & World Report recently ranked it the 41st best liberal arts college in the United States.
Scripps College
Claremont, California
Scripps College is a highly selective women’s liberal arts college located in Claremont, California. Like its fellow schools in the Claremont Consortium, Scripps places a high value on rigorous academics. Perhaps then, it’s not so surprising that all undergraduate classes are taught by the professors themselves, the most popular of which are in the departments of Biology, Languages, and Physics. And hard work pays off, as Scripps has been ranked the 24th best liberal arts college in the nation by U.S. News, as well as the 69th best college overall by Forbes.
Sewanee: The University of the South
Sewanee, Tennessee
Sewanee: The University of the South is a private liberal arts college in Tennessee that is known for its excellent programs of study and its even better professors, the most sought-after of which are in the classics, English, and mathematics departments. Sewanee–which has graduated an amazing 26 Rhodes scholars, 34 NCAA Postgraduate fellows, 46 Watson fellows, and dozens of Fulbright scholars–consistently ranks among the best schools in the nation. Most recently, U.S. News ranked it the 45th best liberal arts college, while Forbes called it the 94th best college in the country.
Smith College
Northampton, Massachusetts
Smith College is a private liberal arts school for women. U.S. News & World Report ranked Smith the 12th best liberal arts school in the country, while Forbes declared it the 54th best school overall in its 2016 America’s Top Colleges ranking. Much of this success has to do with Smith’s top-notch professors and faculty, among whom Kurt Vonnegut was once included. According to Rate My Professors, Smith’s best instructors are in the departments of Chemistry and English Language & Literature.
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Located in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College is an academically intense liberal arts college. More than 40 courses of study are available to students, including a unique Honors program specifically modeled after that of Oxford University. Interestingly, a whopping 20% of Swarthmore grads go on to pursue a graduate degree, while Swarthmore is ranked third on the list of schools producing the most PhD students. Swarthmore’s excellent professors–the most popular of which are from the Mathematics and Political Science departments–are to thank for such dedicated learners.
Trinity International University
Deerfield, Illinois
Located in Deerfield, Illinois, Trinity International University is an evangelical Christian liberal arts school made up of an undergraduate college, a graduate school, a seminary, and a law school. The university has produced a long list of well-known alumni, an accomplishment surely due in large part to their excellent faculty. Trinity has one of the highest composite professor rankings of any school on Rate My Professors, and not surprisingly, the most sought-after instructors are those of religion and religious studies.
United States Air Force Academy
Colorado Springs, Colorado
The United States Air Force Academy is well-known for its stiff admissions requirements and even stiffer academic rigor. The Academy is best known for its majors in engineering and the sciences, so it may come as a surprise that Rate My Professors ranks Academy professors of history, English, and psychology as those most sought-after by students. But regardless of subjects taught, the Academy’s excellent professors, of which there is one for every eight cadets, do a fantastic job providing a broad education to the future of American military officers.
United States Military Academy
West Point, New York
The United States Military Academy, perhaps more familiar as West Point, sets the bar high when it comes to its reputation. West Point provides its cadets with one of the best educations in the U.S., stressing development in the areas of academics, military, and physical wellness. Not only do West Point professors have to lead their students to academic success, but they must also guide them to excellence in character. Not surprisingly, the top-ranked professors at this military academy come from the Social Science, Health Science, and History departments.
Vassar College
Poughkeepsie, New York
Historically, Vassar was the first American college to award degrees to women. Today, it is a highly selective and top-ranked school for any student wishing to study one of its more than 50 majors. Ranked as the 12th best liberal arts college by U.S. News & World Report, Vassar’s success is undoubtedly due to its top-notch professors. The college’s long list of notable past and present faculty members include such names as astronomer Maria Mitchell, computer scientist Grace Hopper, writers Paul Russell and Kiese Laymon, political scientist Peter Stillman, and composer Richard Edward Wilson, to name but a few. Today, Vassar’s most sought-after instructors come from departments like Classics, English, and Languages (specifically Chinese).
Wabash College
Crawfordsville, Indiana
The only all-male school on our list, Wabash College is a small liberal arts college located in Indiana. Consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best colleges in the country, Wabash has a long history of tradition and excellence. Students majoring in any of its 24 majors must complete a three-day comprehensive exam, during which they meet with three professors to answer questions about their major and the core curriculum. According to Rank My Professor, the top Wabash professors are those of religion, biology, and history.
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, Virginia
Washington and Lee University is a small private liberal arts school located in Lexington, Virginia. The University consistently ranks among the top schools in the nation, and most recently has been included on lists by U.S. News & World Report (11th best liberal arts college), Forbes (28th best college), and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance (one of the best colleges for value), among others. Unique among even the nation’s smallest schools, every class at Washington & Lee is taught by a professor, not a graduate student or teaching assistant. According to Rate My Professor, the most popular professors at W&L are in the English, Accounting, and Business departments.
Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
Washington University in St. Louis, located in St. Louis, Missouri, is one of the foremost private research institutions in the United States. The University offers a wide variety of academic majors and foci, so perhaps it’s surprising that the highest ranked professors are from the Film, Psychology, and English departments. Speaking of top-ranked professors, an impressive 25 Nobel laureates have been associated with WUSTL at one point or another, nine of whom completed a majority of their research on the Washington University campus.
Wellesley College
Wellesley, Massachusetts
Wellesley College is a private women’s liberal arts college located near Boston, Massachusetts. Known for its high academic standards, Wellesley is consistently ranked among the most respected colleges by U.S. News & World Report (third best liberal arts college), The Princeton Review (Best Professors list), and Forbes (26th best college in the United States), to name but a few. Wellesley’s current professors (the highest rated of which are in the Economics and Languages departments) have a long history of excellence to maintain, as past Wellesley professors have included the author Vladimir Nabokov, economist Karl Case, and poet Frank Bidart.
Wesleyan University
Middletown, Connecticut
Connecticut’s Wesleyan University is a small liberal arts college that has long emphasized academic excellence. Thanks in large part to its fantastic professors, Wesleyan has been ranked among the top ten colleges and universities in the country by U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, Newsweek, and Business Week, to name but a few. As if that weren’t proof enough of Wesleyan’s outstanding faculty, Wesleyan has produced such alumni as two state governors; filmmakers Michael Bay, Joss Whedon, Paul Weitz, and Mike White; Hamilton composer and director Lin-Manuel Miranda; Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, and author Daniel Handler (a.k.a Lemony Snicket), among many others.
Whitman College
Walla Walla, Washington
Whitman College, located in Walla Walla, Washington, was originally founded as a seminary. Since becoming a four-year college in 1883, Whitman has consistently ranked among the best schools in the nation. Most recently, it was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the 41st Best Liberal Arts College. Such a reputation is due in large part to its excellent professors. Each of Whitman’s 46 majors offers a student to faculty ratio of 9:1, with the most popular professors working in the departments of mathematics and history.
Williams College
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Ranked #1 on Best College’s 2017 list of the best liberal arts colleges, Williams College and its professors must be doing something right. The college, which is one of the oldest in America, consistently ranks among the best institutions of higher learning, and is well regarded for its academic rigor. Williams students have a number of majors to choose from within the school’s three academic branches–languages and the arts, social sciences, and science and mathematics–and no class exceeds a student-teacher ratio of 7:1. Despite its reputation for Classics and Liberal Arts, Williams’ highest ranked professors actually came from the Psychology and Mathematics departments.
CVO Staff