Sanjana Priyonti, Junior Editor
These past couple of months, Sewanee has been getting a lot of attention from local and national news press for being named the No.1 most beautiful college campus in the nation by Princeton Review. Ever since then, the college community has echoed the Vice Chancellor’s concerns for the lack of recognition of Sewanee’s strong academics.
Sewanee’s academics deserve more than a mere mention. This year, Sewanee has been ranked 45th in the 2026 National Liberal Arts Colleges and Universities ranking in the U.S. News and World Report. Being ranked 45th out of a staggering total of 211 LAC’s is no small feat. However, the lack of mention from Sewanee’s own social media and news outlets, let alone local media, raises the question of if we should start to advertise more about our academic success.
From 2001 to 2009, Sewanee was consistently ranked within the top 30, which dropped to top 40 in 2012-2014, following top 50 position from 2015 to 2026 ranking (exception of 2023 and 2024 – ranked 51). Browsing through the University Archive’s media clips, the only news about Sewanee in Garden & Gun in 2008 was about the trails and serenity of the campus.
According to the Vice-President, and Dean of Admissions and Financial aid, Alan Ramirez, “additional schools have entered the fray,” and schools like Trinity University and U.S. Military schools which were not categorized as Liberal Arts Colleges before, are now competing against existing liberal arts colleges.
It was in 2001 when the U.S. Military School was first considered in the category of liberal arts colleges, the same year in which Sewanee had its best ranking — 25th — in 25 years. So the question of additional schools impacting Sewanee’s ranking can be kept to the side.
When asked about Sewanee’s transforming academic ranking, Professor of English Dr. Jennifer Michael, said that compared to the early 2000s “I and many of my colleagues have become more mature and we have gained so much experience.” The professors are adopting and adjusting their teaching style to provide the best possible experience for their students. Professor Michael further said, “the student experience now is much better than it was before.”
If Sewanee’s academics are getting stronger than before, then what might have caused this downward turn in ranking? Dean Ramirez and Associate Vice-President for marketing and communication, Parker Oliver, said that the criteria for ranking has changed and U.S. News and World Report now uses a different formula; “Now it incorporates outcomes – graduation rates, social mobility (which is how many of your first generation Pell-grant eligible students are graduating in that four-year timeline). 20% of the score now depends on peer assessment (relies upon deans of admission, Provosts, and Presidents).
Does that mean that Sewanee should start focusing more on building inter-college relationships and advertising more about our academic program? Perhaps. But, as Dean Ramirez said, more than ranking, the focus is on making Sewanee a place where students can connect to and feel like they belong here.
As an academic institution, yes, we should highlight our academic rankings, however rankings alone don’t provide a full picture. Ranking pales in comparison to the support of so many highly qualified faculty who are always going above and beyond for their students, and new initiatives that are being taken to improve the student experience and efforts to increase graduation rate.