MC Claims Top Spot Among State’s Private Universities in 2022 WSJ/THE Rankings

For the third year in a row, Mississippi College is the only private university in the Magnolia State to make the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings.

A pioneering ranking of U.S. colleges and universities by one of the best-known business and financial news resources and a leading higher education data and analysis company has listed Mississippi College as the state’s top private university.

The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education 2022 College Ranking focuses on student success and learning. The listing includes performance indicators that help parents, students, and families determine which colleges and universities offer the best overall academic experiences.

The WSJ/THE lists Mississippi College among the best 796 institutions of higher learning nationally. Three other Mississippi universities also made the list: the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University and the University of Southern Mississippi.

The WSJ/THE ranking marks the third time in the last four weeks MC has made a Best Colleges in the United States listing. On Aug. 31, the Princeton Review, one of the nation’s leading tutoring, test prep and college admissions service companies, included MC among its “2022 Best Colleges: Region by Region” rankings. On Sept. 13, U.S. News and World Report, one of the nation’s leading consumer reporting companies, listed MC in its “2022 Best Colleges Rankings.”

“For Mississippi College to be included on the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education listing after such a rigorous review of performance indicators - from students’ engagement with their studies and interaction with their teachers to satisfaction with their collegiate experience - speaks to the quality of the learning environment at our University,” said Dr. Blake Thompson, MC president. “Our faculty are dedicated to helping students obtain the knowledge and develop the skills they need to be successful in their chosen careers, all while remaining committed to the cause of Christ.”

The WSJ/THE rankings were determined from 15 individual performance indicators in a “balanced scorecard” that reflected the broad strength of each institution. The rankings explore four key areas: resources, engagement, outcomes and environment.

The rankings are based on data from a number of sources, including the National Center for Education Statistics’ federal Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, THE’s U.S. Student Survey and Academic Survey, and the Elsevier bibliometric dataset.

To be considered for the rankings, colleges and universities must be Title IV eligible, award four-year bachelor’s degrees, be located within the 50 states or Washington, D.C., have more than 1,000 students, be solvent, have a valid number of respondents to the WSJ/THE student survey, and have 20 percent or fewer online-only students (not including the shift to remote learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic).