Once again, Bridgewater College has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report, Washington Monthly and The Princeton Review with national and regional accolades.
In 2024’s rankings, U.S. News recognized Bridgewater as a top performer on social mobility and a Best National Liberal Arts College. Similarly, Washington Monthly ranked Bridgewater on its Best Liberal Arts College and Best Bang for the Buck in the Southeast lists. The Princeton Review recognized Bridgewater as one of its Best Mid-Atlantic Regional Colleges.
“It is always an honor to be recognized for the work our faculty and staff do to empower students of all backgrounds with an accessible and transformative education,” Bridgewater College Provost and Executive Vice President Dr. Leona Sevick said. “We strive to create an experience that connects students to important ideas and real-world learning opportunities in order to prepare them for personal and professional fulfillment.”
U.S. News’s methodology for its Best Colleges rankings relies heavily on institutional success measures, such as graduation rates, borrower debt and social mobility. In total, the measures represent more than 50 percent of a school’s rank. Washington Monthly, on the other hand, considers three equally weighted factors in its Best College rankings: social mobility, research and community and national service.
For U.S. News and Washington Monthly, an institution’s social mobility score, which represents how well an institution has graduated economically disadvantaged students, also functions as their Top Performers on Social Mobility and Best Bang for the Buck rankings, respectively. Both organizations evaluate the performance of students who receive federal Pell grants for their rankings, with U.S. News exclusively considering these students for its rankings. In 2024, 36 percent of students in Bridgewater’s Class of 2028 are Pell-eligible, which is up from 30 percent of first-year students for the 2023-24 academic year. The social mobility rankings from U.S. News and Washington Monthly and this increase in Pell-eligible first-year students reflect Bridgewater’s commitment to transparency about college costs and providing an affordable education.
In addition to being nationally ranked, the high-quality education Bridgewater provides earned it a spot on The Princeton Review’s Best Mid-Atlantic list. The unranked, alphabetized list contains 97 colleges in the region that The Princeton Review has determined to be “academically outstanding,” as well as “well worth consideration” by college-bound students. In the 2024-25 academic year, Bridgewater has continued to expand its high-impact educational opportunities by launching undergraduate majors in game design and criminology, along with a master of arts and graduate certificate in nonprofit management.
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Rebecca Barnabi
