OBERLIN — Oberlin College ranked 23rd in the widely regarded U.S. News & World Report ratings of best liberal arts colleges, and several others from Ohio cracked the top 100.

Other highly rated liberal arts colleges in Ohio and their rankings were: Kenyon College, 32nd; Denison University, 69th and College of Wooster, 71st.

The rankings are based on such things as academic reputation, graduation and retention rates, financial resources, opinions of high school counselors and selectivity by students.

In a separate category of top national universities, Case Western Reserve University ranked 41st.

Oberlin’s ranking didn’t surprise Sean Decatur, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Oberlin.

“It’s an honor to be considered among the top 25,” Decatur said. “The rankings are one tool for families but, in the end, what’s most important is going to be the specific fit between the students and the school and how the school meets the students’ expectations and needs.”

The U.S. News study also recognized Baldwin-Wallace College, John Carroll University, Miami University in Oxford, the College of Wooster, the University of Cincinnati and the University of Dayton as among those that excel at helping high school graduates with “B” averages thrive.

In recent weeks, a number of other Ohio colleges and universities made their mark in annual rankings.

Ohio University ranked second in a category that college officials don’t like to brag about when The Princeton Review named Ohio University the No. 2 party school, second only to the University of Georgia.

Meanwhile, Oberlin and The Ohio State University were among the colleges that received a top five-star rating from The Advocate for being gay and lesbian friendly.

And Oberlin was ranked 10th by Sierra magazine in 2009 as one of the “coolest schools” — meaning the greenest for efforts to stop global warming and operate in a sustainable way.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

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