LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Aug. 18, 2008)--Bellarmine University has been named No. 83 in the best colleges and univesities in the nation in the first-ever rankings by Forbes magazine. The number 83 ranking places Bellarmine as just one of two Kentucky institutions to make the top 100. The rankings include 569 undergraduate institutions.
"Bellarmine's ranking by Forbes is certainly good news for us, especially when you consider the outstanding and well known schools that are ranked similarly," said Bellarmine President Joseph J. McGowan. Within three spots of Bellarmine's ranking are Duke (80), Johns Hopkins (81), and Emory (82).
Forbes' methodology included rankings from more than 7 million student evaluations. They looked at how many of the school's alumni, adjusted for the size of the school, are listed among notables in Who's Who in America, and also at ratings on the Web site Ratemyprofessor.com. A large percentage of their ranking method included: debt level at graduation, percentage of students graduating in four years, and number of students or faculty who have won nationally competitive awards.
In response to the question, "What is the best reason for a prospective student to choose your school?" Forbes published an answer from Bellarmine student DeShon Batts '11:
"Bellarmine presents students with opportunities they wouldn't get at a lot of Southern universities. The atmosphere is very friendly and very open to students [from] all walks of life, and they have the tools here for individual students to grow."
The favorable ranking from Forbes is just one of several recognitions Bellarmine has received from national publications. U.S.News & World Report consistently ranks Bellarmine among the top tier Southern master's universities and The Princeton Review recently named Bellarmine among "The Best 368 Colleges."