What Others Say About Us

There are nearly 3,800 four-year colleges and universities in the nation, and a plethora of magazines and guidebooks seek to compare and contrast those institutions on a wide range of factors. Below are some of the major magazines and guidebooks that mention Illinois Wesleyan.

While the following information might provide some helpful comparative data, we believe the very best way to judge a college or university is to visit their campus and meet the faculty who will be teaching you, and the students you will be taking classes and living with during your college years.

Barron's

Illinois Wesleyan is among just 245 institutions in the nation named in Barron's Best Buys in College Education.

Fiske Guide to Colleges

The Fiske Guide to Colleges describes Illinois Wesleyan as a college with an emphasis on creativity and the spirit of inquiry. "The school provides a multitude of paths down which one can travel and it is up to the student to decide which path to take," one student reports. "IWU allows you to become who you want to be, but only if you let it."

Kiplinger's Personal Finance

Illinois Wesleyan moved up to 54th best value nationally among private liberal arts colleges in Kiplinger's Personal Finance Best Values in Private Colleges listing for 2012-13. Read more.

Open Doors Report

Illinois Wesleyan was ranked among the top 40 baccalaureate institutions for the total number of students studying abroad in the 2010 Open Doors Report (covering the 2008-09 academic year) from the Institute for International Education.

The Princeton Review

Illinois Wesleyan has been included in The Princeton Review's annual listing of America's Best Colleges every year since its inception in 1989.

Students were quoted, “It’s hard to describe a typical Wesleyan student, we are all so different. I suppose we are all dedicated to academic success, but you really have everything from bookworms to typical sorority girls to artsy people and athletes. Everyone fits in well together..."

U.S. News & World Report

Illinois Wesleyan has been in the top tier of U.S. News & World Report Best College Rankings of national liberal arts colleges, since it moved up from the No. 1 Midwestern College more than 10 years ago. It currently ranks 71st nationally and is the second highest ranked liberal arts college in Illinois.

Importantly, Illinois Wesleyan is tied for 8th nationally in freshman retention rate and tied for 17th in four-year graduation rate.

Washington Monthly

Illinois Wesleyan was ranked No. 50 among national liberal arts colleges in the 2012  Washington Monthly College Guide.

The Washington Post

Jay Mathews, educational columnist for The Washington Post, ranked Illinois Wesleyan 10th on a list of 100 "outstanding but underappreciated" colleges in the United States. His book, Harvard Schmarvard: Getting Beyond the Ivy League to the College That Is Best for You, was published in 2003 by Prima Publishing. In 2012, Matthews revisited these top 10 colleges in his column in The Washington Post. 

Mathews based his book on a survey of high school counselors and teachers, who identified Illinois Wesleyan as having "strong fine arts, liberal arts and sciences" and "an excellent success rate for students applying to medical school."

College Access & Opportunity Guide

Illinois Wesleyan is included in the College Access & Opportunity Guide, a group of roughly 260 colleges committed to serving and supporting first-generation, low-income, and minority students on their campus and in their community.

America's Best Kept College Secrets

Author Peter Arango wrote, "If this book accomplished nothing other than bringing Illinois Wesleyan to the attention of the college bound, I would be delighted. Not only is Illinois Wesleyan the model of the effective, responsive, well designed, thoroughly successful small liberal arts college/university, it is also an institution that hums with positive energy and which engenders deep feelings of attachment and loyalty among its students and graduates. I won't say that this is a university that time forgot (many of its buildings are state-of-the-art), but there is a sense of mutual respect and affection that sets this solid college apart from many of its peers."

Colleges of Distinction

Illinois Wesleyan is described as "a true renaissance university where students are encouraged to explore all of their interests," and "Students have a host of compelling opportunities to enrich their education with off-campus experiences that might involve spending a year at Pembroke College/Oxford University or perhaps a semester in Washington D.C. through American University."