AcademicInfluence.com Announces the Top Small Colleges & Universities in the U.S. for 2021
50 Best Small Colleges and Universities of 2021
Small colleges are a great option for students interested in a more intimate campus experience, more personal attention from excellent professors, and more immediate access to support services. Whether the focus is on the technical (as at Caltech) or on the liberal arts (as at Sarah Lawrence), small colleges give you the chance to pursue a well-rounded education while working closely with classmates and professors in a dynamic community atmosphere.
When comparing a big college campus to a small college campus, consider that the latter offers more individualized experiences, including opportunities for illuminating classroom discussions, independent research, and one-on-one relationships with your instructors.
The following list of the best small colleges and universities is composed mainly of four-year undergraduate schools (though a handful also offer graduate programs). We’ve identified a total of 1,069 small colleges in the US. In order to be included in this list of best private colleges and universities, a school needs to satisfy the following three conditions:
- It must be a non-profit institution.
- It must be fully accredited.
- Its student body must consist of 5,000 or fewer students.
How do we determine small schools are the best?
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why, at the undergraduate level, we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we call Concentrated Influence.
Concentrated Influence takes the combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers (including faculty and alums) and divides it by the school’s total number of undergraduates.
See the list and read the entire story here.