Hail the orange and black! Study names Hendrix best overall college in Arkansas

Hendrix College is the best overall college in Arkansas, and UA–Little Rock is the best public university in the state, according to a new study from WalletHub.

The study looked at 740 colleges and universities and ranked them across 30 different measures in seven categories: student selectivity, cost and financing, faculty resources, campus safety, campus experience, education outcomes and career outcomes. 

Hendrix fared the best among Arkansas schools in the study, and ranked 31st overall among southern schools. Strong rankings in student selectivity (190), faculty resources (134) and campus experience (198) helped Hendrix overcome a surprisingly low campus safety ranking (598). That student selectivity category evaluates how exclusive or competitive an institution’s admissions process is. Among Arkansas schools, Hendrix scored the best in student-faculty ratio, graduation rate and post-attendance median salary.

Harding University and John Brown University finished second and third, respectively, among Arkansas schools, in large part due to their strong campus safety scores — 39 for Harding and 31 for JBU — both of which are likely due to being located in Searcy and Siloam Springs. Harding was dragged down overall by ranking in the 300s or worse in student selectivity, cost and financing, faculty resources, educational outcome and career outcome, while JBU slipped to third behind a 602 ranking in faculty resources and four other categories where they ranked in the 300s.

UA–Little Rock finished as the highest-ranked public university in Arkansas in this study, finishing fourth in the state overall. UALR’s ranking was propped up by its rankings in student selectivity (295), cost and financing (56) and faculty resources (236). Due to how the various categories were weighted, this was enough for UALR to overcome scores over 450 in the remaining categories.

The full top 10 ranking of Arkansas schools in the study was:

1. Hendrix College
2. Harding University
3. John Brown University
4. UA–Little Rock
5. University of the Ozarks
6. Arkansas State University
7. University of Arkansas – Pine Bluff
8. University of Arkansas – Fayetteville 
9. University of Central Arkansas
10. Southern Arkansas University