page_title: Grinnell College
section_title: Reputation
hierarchical_section_title: Grinnell College / Academics / Reputation
caption_attribution_description: Grinnell College - Main Hall
context_page_description: Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College. Grinnell is known for its rigorous academics, innovative pedagogy, and commitment to social justice.
  Grinnell has the sixth highest endowment-to-student ratio of liberal arts colleges, enabling need-blind admissions and substantial academic merit scholarships to boost socioeconomic diversity. Students receive funding for unpaid or underpaid summer internships and professional development. Grinnell participates in a 3–2 engineering dual degree program with Columbia University, Washington University in St. Louis, and California Institute of Technology, a 2–1–1–1 engineering program with Dartmouth College and a Master of Public Health cooperative degree program with University of Iowa.
  Nearly half of enrolled Grinnellians self-identify as international students or students of color. Among Grinnell alumni are 14 Rhodes Scholars, 5 Marshall Scholars, 119 Fulbright Scholars, 79 Watson Fellows, 13 Goldwater Scholars, and one Nobel laureate.
context_section_description: Grinnell College  is considered one of the 30 Hidden Ivies.
  The 2020 annual ranking of U.S. News & World Report rates it tied for the 14th best liberal arts college overall in the U.S., 3rd for "Best Undergraduate Teaching, 10th for "Best Value", and tied for 11th for "Most Innovative". The College has been consistently ranked in the top 25 liberal arts colleges in the nation since the publication began in 1983. Kiplinger's Personal Finance ranks Grinnell 9th in its 2016 ranking of "best value" liberal arts colleges in the United States.  Grinnell was ranked 15th in the 2015 Washington Monthly rankings, which focus on key outputs such as research, dollar value of scientific grants won, the number of graduates going on to earn Ph.D. degrees, and certain types of public service. In Forbes magazine's 2018 rankings of academic institutions, "America's Top Colleges" (which uses a non-traditional ranking system based on RateMyProfessors.com evaluations, notable alumni, student debt, percentage of students graduating in four years, and the number of students or faculty receiving prestigious awards), Grinnell College was ranked 57th among all colleges and universities, 28th among liberal arts colleges, and 8th in the Midwest.
  Grinnell College graduates enjoy a high acceptance rate to law school; over 46% of all applications submitted by students have been accepted by law schools.
caption: John H. T. Main Residence Hall
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot SD1000", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2008:04:14 05:40:30", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "2260", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "7654", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5007", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:04:14 05:40:30", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:04:14 05:40:30", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "223/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "29/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3072", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2304", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "7482", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "40960/3", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2304000/169", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4148"}