Butler University Ranks Second Among Best Colleges

Butler University moved up from the fourth position to second in the Master's Midwest category in the 2010 issue of U.S. News & World Report’s America's Best Colleges. This is Butler's 21st consecutive year of being ranked in the top 10 of this category. To be included in the Master's category, a university must offer a broad scope of undergraduate degrees and some master's degree programs but few, if any, doctoral programs. The 557 universities in this category are ranked within four geographic areas – North, South, Midwest and West.

After universities are grouped according to their region, they are then ranked in several indicators of academic excellence such as peer assessment, freshman retention, graduation rate, student/faculty ratio, acceptance rate and alumni giving rate. Butler sustained its performance in virtually every criterion and improved in the following five areas:

• 87% in average freshman retention; 85% the previous year.
• 56% of classes under 20; 53% the previous year.
• 3% of classes of 50 or more; 4% the previous year.
• 78% of freshmen in the top 25% of graduating high school class; 77% the previous year.
• 1080-1280 SAT in 25th-75th percentile; 1070-1280 the previous year.

"It is gratifying to see Butler continue to make steady improvements in standard criteria for educational excellence," remarked Butler President Bobby Fong.

Founded in 1855, Butler University serves more than 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students in five academic colleges: Business, Education, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and the Jordan College of Fine Arts. Butler University is consistently cited in such national college guides as US News & World Report, Kaplan/Newsweek, and Barron's Best Buys in College Education.