MILLS RANKED AMONG TOP 75 LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES 

College Ranked Among Top 20 Liberal Arts Colleges for Diversity

Oakland, CA - Mills College is ranked among the country’s top 75 liberal arts colleges in America’s Best Colleges (2006) scheduled for publication on August 29, 2005 by U.S. News & World Report. Mills was selected among the nation’s liberal arts colleges emphasizing undergraduate education and awarding at least half of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines.

Mills was also recognized among the top 20 liberal arts colleges for diversity. The College’s largest minority group is Hispanic students, comprising 10 percent of the student population.

U.S. News & World Report compares institutions with similar missions, and in some cases by region. The rankings are based on a maximum of 15 areas of excellence such as peer assessment, average first-year student retention rate, graduation rate, class size, student SAT/ACT scores, acceptance rate, and alumni giving rate. 

Among the Mills statistics noted in the rankings (based on academic year 2004-05):

• Eighty-two percent of all classes have fewer than 20 students
• Eighty percent of all faculty members are full time
• Twenty-seven percent of first-year students are in the top 10 percent of their high school class
• An average of 36 percent of alumni provided financial support to Mills in 2002-03 and 2003-04

“America’s Best Colleges rankings confirm Mills’ extraordinary momentum, demonstrated by our innovative undergraduate programs including new areas such as pre-nursing and biopsychology, and our 4+1 combined undergraduate and graduate programs in business and infant mental health,” said Mills President Janet L. Holmgren.  “Our recently completed $131.8 million Sesquicentennial Campaign raised 30 percent more than the original goal to support these outstanding programs and ensure that we will continue to attract women of extraordinary achievement and promise.”

Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering innovative degree programs for undergraduate women and graduate degree and certificate programs for women and men. The Princeton Review selected Mills as one of 11 colleges for first-time inclusion in The Best 361 Colleges, to be published in September 2005.

Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California on 135 lush acres, Mills provides a dynamic liberal arts education fostering women’s leadership, social responsibility, and creativity.

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