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¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ maintained its high ranking in the annual U.S. News & World Report collegiate rankings made public Sept. 12. ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ was ranked fourth among Regional Universities-South for the second consecutive year, continuing a three-decade tradition of being ranked in the top tier of its peer group.

¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ was the highest ranked university in Alabama in any peer group and ranked very high among Southern Conference peers. Among Southern Conference schools, only Elon University (North Carolina) was higher, ranked second in the same category as ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ. ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ also was among the highest-ranking historically Baptist colleges and universities.

“Rankings are just one measure of an institution’s success,” said ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ President Andrew Westmoreland. “We always are interested in assessing our standing compared with our peers, but, at ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ we believe that our best assessment is in the academic success of our faculty, students and alumni.”

The rankings are based on the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifications and assess such criteria as academic reputation, graduation and retention rates, class size, faculty/student ratios and alumni giving, according to R. Phil Kimrey, ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ’s vice president for student affairs and enrollment management. Peer assessments from presidents, provosts and chief admission officers of institutions in the same classification also are used to determine the rankings.

Institutions in ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ’s classification are ranked in four regions. ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ’s overall score placed it 12^th nationally among the 625 institutions classified as regional universities. This is the largest classification grouping in the U.S. News rankings.

¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ also was included on two of the special category lists that are part of the 2013 rankings.

¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ was ranked 11^th among regional universities in the South in the “Great Schools at Great Prices” category. According to U.S. News officials, only schools ranked in or near the top half of their categories are included in this list because they are considered the significant values. Two of the three schools ranked above ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ in the overall South rankings – Rollins and Stetson universities in Florida – also were on this list.

In addition, ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ was one of 21 schools in the South to be named an “A-Plus School for B Students.” Institutions on this list admitted a “meaningful proportion of applicants whose test scores and class standing put them in non-A territory, but who have a decent shot at being accepted and thriving,” according to U.S. News.

Both Westmoreland and Kimrey noted that the rankings come at the same time the university anticipates announcing a sixth consecutive semester of record enrollment and very strong first-year class and retention rates. Official enrollment totals are expected to be released Sept. 14. Several ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ programs, including business, law and nursing, have achieved high national rankings in recent months, and the university has been highly ranked by other publications such as Kiplinger’s, Colleges of Distinction and The Princeton Review.

“The rankings and assessments from our peers confirm what we at ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ have known for years – that ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ’s emphasis on rigorous academics is succeeding,” Westmoreland added. “Many people have helped to build that strong reputation through the years.”