U.S. News and World Report named Willamette University the best in the Pacific Northwest for economic diversity in its 2021 rankings.
No other school in the Pacific Northwest appeared in the “Top Performers on Social Mobility” list, which measures a school’s success in graduating students from lower-income families. Willamette also ranked No. 2 for best liberal arts school and “Best Value School” in Oregon, and third-highest in the Pacific Northwest in both categories.
Nationally, Willamette ranked No. 72 among 223 arts and science institutions, No. 108 for social mobility and No. 97 for best value.
U.S. News and World Report weighed the academic quality of colleges and universities based on 17 factors, including graduation rates, undergraduate academic reputation and new measures on graduate indebtedness. Data from 2019 was used for the rankings, and to account for disruption by the pandemic, the magazine re-introduced test-blind schools and reduced emphasis on admissions data and alumni giving.