By Emily Fox · Editor-in-Chief
Grove City College is Pennsylvania’s top “Hidden Gem,” according to Citizens’ College Raptor online ranking service.
College Raptor, which ranks the best colleges in the United States using data publicly available through the National Center for Education Statistics, defines its Hidden Gems as “lesser-known colleges that provide an excellent education to their students.”
Grove City was ranked second among national Hidden Gems. The college was ranked No. 1 of the 25 NCAA Division III Hidden Gems. It was also ranked No. 1 of the 24 private not-for-profit Hidden Gems, No. 1 of seven Hidden Gems in the mid-east U.S. – Delaware, Washington D.C., Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania – and No. 1 of the five Hidden Gems in Pennsylvania.
“These rankings are simply a recognition of Grove City College’s quality and value based on empirical data,” Nick Hildebrand, director of college communications, said. “College Raptor’s focus on smaller schools magnifies Grove City’s strengths – excellent academics, conservative values, Christ-centeredness and affordability – and makes the college stand out.”
According to College Raptor’s website, Hidden Gem colleges must fulfill five criteria. They must receive less than 5,000 applications each year, have less than 7,000 people in their undergraduate student body, accept higher than 10% of applicants each year, provide more than five unique majors to students and rank in the top 50% of College Raptor’s overall ranking.
College Raptor ranks Grove City College 68th out of the 1,729 colleges included in its overall national ranking.
The national ranking is determined by College Raptor’s assessment of each college’s first-year retention rate, the median SAT and ACT scores for incoming freshmen, the average faculty salary, the school’s student-to-faculty ratio, its endowment per student, four-year graduation rate, six-year graduation rate and the college’s selectivity index, which refers the percentage of accepted applicants divided by the number of accepted students who actually commit to the institution.
Each of these data points are then weighted to determine the school’s ranking. The retention rate is weighted 23%. SAT and ACT scores, average faculty salary and student-to-faculty ratio are all 11%. The selectivity index and the endowment per student are each six percent, and the four- and six-year graduation rates are both 16% of the weight.
