Wheaton College Ranked in National Liberal Arts Colleges for U.S. News & World Report

Wheaton College continues to be ranked highest among Christian colleges for academic excellence. The 2027 edition of U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) rankings for National Liberal Arts Colleges released yesterday place Wheaton #57 out of 206 institutions in Overall Rank and #90 in Best Value Schools. The College also ranked #54 in Top Private Schools.

Among 193 National Liberal Arts Colleges on the list, Wheaton placed #57 in Top Performers on Social Mobility. Social Mobility is determined by a college’s success in “advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants,” according to USNWR’s summary for the category.

According to USNWR, schools are grouped into 10 categories based on the 2025 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education's institutional classifications and research designations and then receive scores on up to 17 academic quality factors. Ranking factors highlight “student outcomes, academic resources, and expert opinion.”

This year, Wheaton College also ranked #1 in Niche’s Best Liberal Arts Colleges in Illinois.