Westmont Magazine Ranked among the Nation’s Best

Recent college and university annual rankings continue to affirm Westmont as one of the top Christian liberal arts colleges in the nation.

Payscale’s 2020 Best Universities and Colleges by Salary Potential shows that mid-career Westmont alumni, including those with a graduate degree, earn a median income of $119,800 after more than 10 years in the workforce. This places Westmont in the top 7 percent nationally among all four-year bachelor degree institutions with the highest ranking among all members of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU).

Westmont jumped four spots in the 2021 U.S. News and World Report rankings that lists the college at No. 113 (tie) while remaining in the top tier of the 223 National Liberal Arts Colleges. Westmont skyrocketed 63 points in the Social Mobility Ranking, which measures how well schools graduate students who received federal Pell Grants. The score is the fourth best among liberal arts colleges in California. Pell Grants typically come from households with family incomes of less than $50,000 annually, although most Pell Grant money goes to students with a total family income below $20,000.

The college also improved its graduation and retention scores, increased the number of first-year students in the top 10 percent of their high school class from 28 percent to 33 percent, and saw a four-point increase in the financial resources ranking that looks at average spending per student on instruction, research and student services.

For the second time in three years, Westmont appeared in the list U.S. News Best Undergraduate Teaching for National Liberal Arts College. Westmont joined just 63 liberal arts colleges in the selective ranking, which focuses on schools where faculty and administrators are committed to teaching undergraduate students in a high-quality manner.

Niche’s 2021 Best Liberal Arts Colleges in America list Westmont at No. 85, and No. 7 in California. These rankings, based on a combination of U.S. Department of Education data and reviews from current students, alumni and parents, include updated data and reviews for 4,150 colleges nationwide. Niche assigned grades and rankings for schools after analyzing a dozen factors that encompass academics, campus, dorm life, professors and value for the financial investment.

Colleges of Distinction, celebrating its 20-year anniversary, has included Westmont College in its 2020-21 list and recognized it in two categories, California College of Distinction and a Christian College of Distinction. Westmont is one of about 400 national colleges and one of 26 colleges in California to be recognized as a school that delivers on four overarching distinctions: student engagement, teaching, community, and outcomes.

The World University Rankings, using data collected by the Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education, lists Westmont as No. 22 in California.