Fairfield University wins high marks in U.S. News & World Report and other college guides | Press Releases

Fairfield University has once again placed number three among the Best Universities in the North with master's degree programs, according to the new rankings just released by U.S. News & World Report's 2004 edition of "America's Best Colleges." In responding to the report, Dr. Orin Grossman, academic vice president, said, "I'm really pleased with the consistency Fairfield has demonstrated in the rankings. This is a somewhat competitive and volatile system, and yet we have remained in the #2, #3, or #4 position over the last 13 years."

Dr. Grossman said the stature and commitment of the faculty, along with an increasingly talented student body, were strong factors in the good ratings Fairfield received from U.S. News & World Report, as well as other college guides, including the "Fiske Guide to Colleges," "The Princeton Review," and Kaplan's "The Unofficial, Unbiased Guide to the 328 Most Interesting Colleges."

The 2004 Fiske Guide to Colleges put Fairfield on its list of 15 "Small Colleges and Universities Strong in Business," and said Fairfield "combines solid academics, real-world opportunities in and outside of the classroom, and an abundance of community-service projects."

The Princeton Review again counted Fairfield among "The Best 351 Colleges" and in a companion publication, "The Best Northeastern Colleges, 135 Great Schools to Consider." Fairfield's five undergraduate divisions, the guide points out, offer "an unusually wide range of academic options to its small student body, and like many Jesuit schools, it manages to do so at a price that nonaffiliated private schools rarely match."

Kaplan, in its "The Unofficial, Unbiased Guide to the 328 Most Interesting Colleges talks of Fairfield's "well-rounded education with emphasis on service to the community - a winning combination for today's world," and says the "business programs, particularly accounting and finance, are excellent, as are biology, nursing, English, and religious studies."

Among the statistics that kept Fairfield among the U.S. News & World Report's best regional universities in the North with master's degree programs were: 70 percent of freshmen in the top 25 percent of their high school class; a selective acceptance rate of 50 percent of applicants; and an 89 percent freshman retention rate. Fairfield also scored well in peer assessment.

The freshman statistics used in the report are from the Class of 2006, now entering its sophomore year. In that class, 50 percent had SATs over 1200, up from 46 percent the year before.