Marietta College climbed a spot in the 2025 U.S. News and World Report rankings, tying for the 17th spot among the Best Midwestern Colleges division.
The rankings, published today, evaluated 94 colleges for the Midwestern category. It looked at 13 ranking factors, with indicators such as graduation rates, peer assessment, and graduation rate performance bearing the most weight. Last year, only 74 colleges were considered — so Marietta's noteworthy climb reflects a larger competition field.
Marietta also achieved the 24th spot for Best Value and 63rd in the Top Performers on Social Mobility.
“More than half of a school's rank now comprises varying outcome measures related to schools' success at enrolling, retaining and graduating students from different backgrounds with manageable debt and post-graduation success,” according to the U.S. News’ explanation of how eligible colleges were assessed.
The Social Mobility rating assessed how Marietta graduated economically disadvantaged students. The rankings are based on graduation rates of Pell Grant recipients. Unlike last year’s ratings, this category did not include data on first-generation students.
In areas of study in the Midwest region, Marietta ranks 5th in the Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities category.
Looking at colleges in Ohio, Marietta ranks 13th among private, nonprofit colleges in the Midwest, Marietta ranks 16th. For specific academic programs, Marietta’s Engineering, Education, Computer and Information Science, Communication/Journalism, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, English, and History program rank 5th among the state’s colleges.
These accolades come on the heels of Marietta’s impressive performance in the Wall Street Journal/Pulse 2025 Rankings, where the College climbed to No. 5 in Ohio overall. In this prestigious list, Marietta also ranked 4th in Student Experience, Best Salaries, and Social Mobility, outpacing all of Ohio’s public institutions. Furthermore, it secured 5th place statewide in Best Value. Nationally, Marietta made significant strides, moving up to 289th among 500 institutions, a notable improvement from last year’s 304th position.