E&H Named one of ‘America’s Best College Secrets’

A new guide book by an expert in college admissions lists Emory & Henry College among 70 colleges and universities that are “America’s Best Kept College Secrets.”

Institutions included in the guidebook share four important characteristics: a superior institution that is exciting, challenging and welcoming; an excellent reputation with high regard from those who know colleges; acceptance rates of more than 60 percent and retention rates of more than 85 percent; and a strong interest in applicants from outside its region.

The book is the work of Peter Arango, who has been working in the field of college admissions for 40 years, during which time he has counseled hundreds of students and families. He is an editor of the Houghton Mifflin Guide to U.S. Colleges and Universities, a contributor to numerous publications, and a frequent presenter at workshops on preparing for the college search.

Arango describes Emory & Henry as a college that occupies “a distinguished and unique place in the history of the commonwealth and in the ranks of liberal arts colleges.”

He praises the college for its low student-to-faculty ratio. “That’s part of the reason for the uncommon success of E&H’s graduates and part of the reason the campus is so relentlessly happy.”

Emory & Henry’s inclusion in “Best Kept College Secrets” is the latest of several recent accolades for the institution, which is ranked by Washington Monthly among the top 25 liberal arts colleges in the nation. In June, USA Today ranked Emory & Henry among the top 20 institutions nationwide in providing service learning. Newsweek magazine ranks it among the top 5 nationwide in the same category.

In May, Emory & Henry was among 11 colleges and universities nationwide to be named a finalist for the President’s Award, the highest federal recognition for service learning and community service to be awarded to an institution of higher education.
Emory & Henry is one of five Virginia institutions included on the list of Best Kept College Secrets. The others include Hampden-Sydney College, Hollins University, Lynchburg College and Sweet Briar College. In Tennessee the University of the South in Sewanee and Belmont University in Nashville made the list.

For more information about the “Best Kept College Secrets” you can visit their website at http://bestkeptcollegesecrets.com.