U.S. News and World Report, an education, business and analytics publishing company, released its 2025 list of “Best College Rankings” and “National Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings” on Sept. 24. In the National Liberal Arts Colleges category, Occidental is now tied for 34 with Mount Holyoke College, one spot above Pitzer College. Occidental has jumped three rankings in two years and is now ranked the highest it has been in 15 years.
Senior Associate Dean of Admission Robin Meryl said that rankings are an important way to be recognized and distinguished as a school, especially in higher education.
“It is important to be represented in these rankings,” Meryl said. “Whether we want it to be or not, it’s a place where students go. There certainly is potential in the possibility that we are reaching folks we were not reaching before, through these rankings.”
The rise in Occidental’s rankings could affect the admissions process. Meryl said that the applicants are already very competitive, and an increase in applicants would only make the pool more competitive.
“We have a really strong applicant pool now. We would always love to see that increase,” Meryl said. “If all these folks are qualified to be successful at Oxy, what are the other ways they’re going to contribute to our community with intellectual curiosity and how they think about the world around them?”
According to the Occidental Admissions website, they are looking for students who are well-rounded in all facets of their lives, not just high achievers in the classroom. Meryl said that students have impactful roles in their communities, families and extracurricular events are the most successful during the application process.
According to Meryl, the college’s selectivity has been growing, and the change in rankings can lead students to pay more attention to more applications, for better or for worse.
“Oxy, just in general, is becoming more competitive. The narrative around competitive applications and selective institutions definitely drives more students to apply to more schools, to be more fearful about the process,” Meryl said. “It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that students are spending more time applying to schools that are on the ranking lists and less time applying to schools that really fit what they’re looking for.”
Meryl said that it is not easy to predict if Occidental will continue to rise in rankings, and that U.S. News is constantly changing their criteria for their ranking from year to year. According to Occidental’s Director of Communications Rachael Warecki, 17 ranking factors were used to rank colleges and universities.
“Occidental ranked highly in several liberal arts college-specific categories, including Top Performers in Social Mobility, Most Innovative Schools and Undergraduate Teaching Programs,” Warecki said via email.
Although Occidental ranked 18th in the Top Performers in Social Mobility category, 38th in Most Innovating and 42nd in Undergraduate Teaching, Warecki said that she hopes that students don’t lean completely on rankings to determine what school to apply to.
“We hope that prospective students and families use these rankings as a jumping-off point to learn more about Oxy’s unique academic programs and initiatives, as well as the opportunities provided by our reciprocal relationships within the vibrant city of Los Angeles,” Warecki said vai email.
Meryl said that the admissions team works to improve and stabilize important parts of the ranking criteria, such as the college’s retention rate and financial health. According to Meryl the financial strength of an institution is weighted heavily in the ranking process. Meryl said the rankings reflect only a small part of the Occidental College experience, which she said can never be reduced to a number.
“I don’t think they tell the whole story. We are certainly excited about the rankings, and certainly they weigh things that are valuable and important to us,” Meryl said. “I think the student and faculty relationships [and] the experiential learning opportunities students have in Los Angeles are the kinds of things that are never going to be captured in the rankings.”
Contact Peter Krebs at pkrebs@oxy.edu
This article was updated at Nov. 8, 1:45 p.m. to reflect that Occidental is ranked 34 in the National Liberal Arts Colleges category, not the National Universities category.
