Davidson College placed ninth on the latest list of the prestigious U.S. News & World Report rankings of national liberal arts colleges, released today.  That’s up one spot from last year’s list.

The rankings take a variety of factors into consideration, such as student/faculty ratio, average freshman retention, SAT/ACT percentiles and class size.  Some of the factors – like “peer assessment”and alumni giving- are controversial and have caused some college presidents to boycott the survey.  (Click here for today’s Washington Post article about the criticism.)

Davidson was one of 266 colleges included in the liberal arts rankings (there are other lists for public institutions and universities and various other types of schools).  Williams College in Massachusetts retained its top place on the liberal arts list.  Davidson was the only North Carolina college in the liberal arts top 100, though Wofford College, South Carolina, ranked 59th.  Click here to see the full list. 

The US News web rankings list was released Friday morning.  A print version will be available on newsstands Monday.