Swarthmore College lands in top-five on U.S. New best colleges list

Swarthmore College, located roughly 20 miles outside of Philadelphia and tucked in a bucolic section of southeast Pennsylvania, is no longer one of higher education's best-kept secrets.

Swarthmore College's robust Tri-County Consortium among Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College and its student life offerings have propelled the school to a third place ranking of liberal arts colleges on U.S. News and World Report's Best Colleges list.

Where is Swarthmore College?

Swarthmore College, founded by the Quakers in 1864, earned high marks from U.S. News and World Report for its offering courses at nearby colleges and wealth of student activities.

"Swarthmore College students can take courses at Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College through the Tri-College Consortium. Unlike most other liberal arts colleges, Swarthmore also offers an undergraduate engineering program," read U.S. News' ranking of Swarthmore College. "The school has more than 100 organizations that students can get involved in on campus."

Swarthmore College earns marks for value, computer science disciplines

U.S News also ranked Swarthmore College as having the fourth-best writing in the disciplines program and fifth-best senior capstone.

U.S. News also ranked Swarthmore College as providing the fifth-best overall value.

According the ranking, Swarthmore College's tuition plus fees is roughly $65,494 per year.

Astrotnomist and NASA's first female executive Nancy Grace Roman is a graduate of Swarthmore College.

Roman, dubbed "the mother of the Hubble Telescope," passed in 2018.

Former Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis is also a Swarthmore College alum.

Damon C. Williams is a Philadelphia-based journalist reporting on trending topics across the Mid-Atlantic Region.