The U.S. News and World Report annual rankings of America's Best Colleges are greeted with both joy and sorrow by higher education administrators across the country. However justified the concerns of administrators may be about the soundness of the method of evaluation or the accuracy of self-reported information, alumni, prospective students and their parents, and others read and note these rankings. It is, therefore, important to understand them. Institutions of higher education are, by their own choice, ranked either against similar institutions nationally or in a region of the country. Institutions are not considered in more than one category.
Regional competition is far less stiff than national competition.
Because a college ranks in the top 10 among southern liberal arts colleges, this does not equate to a place in a top tier of the national rankings or any national ranking at all. Approximately 150 liberal arts colleges receive national rankings. The are divided into four tiers. Hampden-Sydney is ranked in the third tier. Although the institutions in the first tier are ranked individually, this is not true of the three other tiers where institutions are listed alphabetically.