Hillsdale College earned the top spot in College Raptor’s 2024 “hidden gem” rankings for colleges and universities in Michigan.
“We are grateful for the recognition of our efforts to provide an excellent liberal arts education,” College Provost Christopher VanOrman said. “The sense of partnership between students, faculty members, and staff members is what makes Hillsdale College so successful. These rankings are a confirmation that a college which offers a liberal arts education focused on forming successful, virtuous students and citizens is a place where students can flourish.”
College Raptor is a college search platform that partners with hundreds of schools to provide statistics and rankings of higher education institutions in the United States.
“We help families discover quality and affordable college options based on personalized estimates of financial aid, scholarships, academic match, and acceptance rates,” co-founder and CEO William Staib told the Collegian.
Hidden gem colleges, according to Staib, are the highest-rated schools in College Raptor’s overall rankings that receive fewer than 5,000 applications per year, have fewer than 7,000 undergraduate students, and offer five or more unique majors.
The hidden gem rankings for Michigan included schools such as Calvin University and Kalamazoo College.
Staib said the final rankings are based on a series of factors, including first-year retention rate, student-to-faculty ratio, and four-year graduation rate.
“Hillsdale has a 96% first-year retention rate, an 8:1 student-to-faculty ratio, and a four-year graduation rate of 76%, which puts them as the top hidden gem school,” Staib said.
College Raptor began the hidden gem college rankings for the first time in 2015, and Hillsdale first appeared in the 2020 rankings. It has earned the top spot in Michigan every year since.
“Hillsdale is the kind of place where you can leave your backpack on the ground, and not even worry about it,” said senior Caleb Greene. “The community and culture here is unparalleled in Michigan, which is why I’m not surprised it has won this award the past four years.”
