FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                            RELEASE NO. 73-09 (UPDATED)

WEST POINT RANKED TOP PUBLIC LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE – Aug. 20, 2009

WEST POINT, N.Y. – U.S. News & World Report announced its “2010 America’s Best Colleges Rankings” today and ranked West Point the “Top Public Liberal Arts College.”

The U.S. Naval Academy was ranked #2.

West Point was also named the fourth-best “Undergraduate Engineering Program,” where a doctorate is not offered, ahead of both Navy (fifth) and the U.S. Air Force Academy (tied for sixth).  Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Ind., and Harvey Mudd College, Calif., tied for the top spot.

In the Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs category, West Point was ranked #4 overall, slating our Civil Engineering Program #2, Mechanical #8 and Electrical tied-for #9.

The engineering rankings are based solely on a spring 2009 peer survey of deans and senior faculty that asked them to rate each program they are familiar with on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished).  West Point’s average was 4.1.

Out of 266 liberal arts colleges that U.S. News categorized as awarding more than half of their degrees in the arts and sciences, West Point was listed as tied for 14th-best Liberal Arts College overall, when combining both private and public colleges.  Navy was #19.  Williams College, Mass., was ranked #1.

Earlier this month, Forbes.com, America’s Best Colleges, ranked West Point as the “Top College in the Country.”

About West Point
West Point, The U.S. Military Academy, is a four-year co-educational federal undergraduate liberal arts college located 50 miles north of New York City. The world's preeminent leader development institution, it was founded in 1802 as America's first college of engineering.  Its mission remains constant—to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army.  For more information, go to www.westpoint.edu