Lists and Rankings

Institutions of Excellence in the First-Year College Experience

Freshman year doesn't have to be all awkwardness and general education courses. These schools really make the first year count. Okay, so there still might be some awkwardness. It's freshman year, after all.

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Community Colleges:

• Community College of Denver (Denver, CO)
• LaGuardia Community College (Long Island City, NY)

Four-Year Colleges and Universities (Enrollment under 2,000):

• Eckerd College (St. Petersburg, FL)
• Kalamazoo College (Kalamazoo, MI)

Four-Year Colleges and Universities (Enrollment 2,000-5,000):

• Drury University (Springfield, MO)
• Elon University (Elon, NC)
• United States Military Academy (West Point, NY)

Four-Year Colleges and Universities (Enrollment 5,000-10,000):

• CUNY — Lehman College (Bronx, NY)
• Texas A&M University — Corpus Christi (Corpus Christi, TX)

Four-Year Universities (Enrollment 10,000-20,000):

• Appalachian State University (Boone, NC)
• Ball State University (Muncie, IN)

Four-Year Universities Enrollment Over 20,000):

• Indiana University — Purdue University Indianapolis (Indianapolis, IN)
• University of South Carolina — Columbia (Columbia, SC)

Source: Policy Center on the First Year of College, www.firstyear.org. Over 100 colleges were surveyed and these were selected. Copyright 2007-2008, Policy Center on the First Year of College. All rights reserved. The research was partially supported by the Lumina Foundation for Education.