SUNY Geneseo is ranked fifth among the nation's public liberal arts colleges in the latest U.S. News rankings, a new national placement for the Livingston County school, which was previously listed among regional universities in the North, according to the college.
The college also appears on the publication's Best Value Schools list for national liberal arts colleges. Geneseo said it is the only public institution among the 97 schools recognized on that list, a distinction it links to the cost of a public-college education.
A new comparison group
Geneseo said this is the first time U.S. News has ranked it nationally. In previous years, the school appeared in the Regional Universities—North category. The category change means this year's placement is not a direct year-over-year climb from an earlier national liberal arts ranking.
The release did not provide the ranking methodology or a direct comparison of tuition and total student costs. The Best Value placement is a ranking designation, not a guarantee of affordability for every applicant, whose costs can vary with aid and circumstances.
President Melinda Treadwell called the national placement a recognition of work by students, faculty and staff. She described Geneseo's aim as offering a demanding liberal arts education at a public-college price, a description of the school's mission rather than a finding established by the ranking alone.
Applications and admissions
The school received more than 18,200 first-year applications for the current academic year, a record and roughly 20% more than two years earlier, according to its announcement. Geneseo said it admitted about 53% of applicants during that period of increasing demand.
The figures describe applications and the share admitted, not how many students enrolled. The college did not give a current enrollment total or a breakdown of where applicants came from in the release.
Student Association President Lucas Pastwik said students value both academic challenge and opportunities to join a campus community. Vice President for Enrollment Management Costas Solomou said the growing applicant pool reflects interest in the combination of liberal arts study and a public institution's price.
Geneseo calls itself New York's Public Honors College. Its new classification places it alongside a national group of liberal arts colleges for the U.S. News comparison, while its status as a public SUNY institution remains unchanged.
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