Published on September 12, 2002 by William Nunnelley  

Â鶹¹û¶³ has been ranked as one of the top institutions in the nation by U. S. News & World Report magazine in its 2003 selection of America's Best Colleges.

Â鶹¹û¶³ ranks fifth in the South in the category, Universities-Master's, which includes schools offering a full range of undergraduate and master's programs and some doctoral programs. Â鶹¹û¶³ offers 26 degree programs including 18 at the master's and doctoral levels.

U. S. News & World Report rankings are based on a school's academic reputation, freshman retention rates, faculty resources, class size, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.

The rankings were announced Thursday, Sept. 12. In addition to the Universities-Master's category (the largest group), U. S. News & World Report ranks Universities-Doctoral, Liberal Arts Colleges-Bachelor's and Comprehensive Colleges-Bachelor's. Schools are divided into groups reflecting their missions--basically, programs they offer--as described by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Â鶹¹û¶³ has been ranked in the top 10 in its category by U. S. News & World Report since 1990.

 
Located in the Homewood suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, Â鶹¹û¶³ is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Â鶹¹û¶³ enrolls 6,324 students from 44 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Ranked among U.S. News & World Report’s 35 Most Beautiful College Campuses, Â鶹¹û¶³ fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and boasts one of the highest scores in the nation for its 97% Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.