More than ever, prospective college students and their families have a variety of tools at their disposal to help them make the big decision of choosing an institution of higher learning. Print and online college guides and rankings offer some of the most important and useful resources, and this year Hollins has been featured prominently in several of the nation’s best-known publications:
- USA Today and the education technology company College Factual have named Hollins as the number one college in the nation in the category, “English Language and Literature, General – Most Focused.” Their 2017 college rankings also place Hollins among the top five percent of the “Most Focused” colleges and universities nationwide in biology and history.
- The 2017 edition of U.S. News Best Colleges lists Hollins at number 11 in the category “Best Colleges for Veterans” and the number 27 “Best Value School” among National Liberal Arts Colleges. Overall, Hollins is ranked number 105 in the National Liberal Arts Colleges classification, up from number 108 last year.
- Hollins’ financial health has received an “A” rating from Forbes magazine. “The grades measure financial fitness as determined by nine components broken into three categories: balance sheet strength, operational soundness, and other higher education specific health indicators,” the magazine reports.
- In its profile of Hollins, The Princeton Review’s The Best 381 Colleges: 2017 Edition says students at Hollins “adore the school,” that life on this “gorgeous” and “peaceful” campus is “a unique amalgam of individualistic zaniness and required academic hustle and bustle,” and that “Hollins really embodies the concept of sisterhood.”
- The Fiske Guide to Colleges 2017 places Hollins among the 25 “Small Colleges and Universities Strong in Art and Design,” the 18 “Small Colleges and Universities Strong in Film/Television,” and the 17 “Small Colleges and Universities Strong in Dance.”
- The ranking and review website niche.com has named Hollins one of the 100 Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the country, and lists it among the five Best Liberal Arts Colleges in Virginia and one of the ten Best Colleges in Virginia overall. Niche says it “takes into account key factors such as the strength of the academic program, the aptitude of professors, the quality of campus amenities, the general character of student life, as well as student reviews in an attempt to measure the overall excellence of the college experience.”
- Hollins is one of the top 100 liberal arts colleges in the nation, according to Washington Monthly’s annual College Guide and Rankings. Hollins is one of only five Virginia colleges to earn a spot in the top 100. “We rate schools based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: Social Mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), Research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs), and Service (encouraging students to give something back to their country),” the guide explains.
- Hollins is one of only four Virginia colleges to be featured in Peterson’s Cool Colleges 101.
