Alverno College’s student body is more inspiring than that of any other college or university in the nation, according to new rankings from The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education.
Students across the country were asked: Do you think your college provides an environment where you feel you are surrounded by exceptional students who inspire and motivate you?
The survey results, which were released in September, show that Alverno beat out some impressive company, including MIT, Brown University, and Harvard University. Other institutions in the top 10 were The Master’s University, Spelman College, Dartmouth College,
Missouri Baptist University, Harding University, and Houghton College.
Ms. Carole Barrowman, an Alverno English professor who was interviewed by The Wall Street Journal for a story about the rankings, credited Alverno’s teaching and learning model in which students teach themselves and learn from their peers.
“If you come into a classroom here, you won’t see desks; nothing but tables,” Ms. Barrowman said, “we believe education is a social construct, and we can all learn from each other.”
For decades, Alverno College has been recognized for its hands-on, assessment-based learning, which is designed to help students become confident individuals who embrace challenges.
Research indicates that graduates of a women’s college are more likely to assume leadership roles, earn advanced degrees, and excel in traditionally male-dominated fields. Of the top 15 schools that scored the highest in the survey, three were women’s colleges.
Alverno inspires students to become leaders, said Ms. Jordan Mason, an English major at Alverno. “Alverno encourages confidence and provides the platform for women to flourish into the strong, self-aware, and compassionate servant leaders they were destined to be. Alverno did this for me,” she said.