Occidental College Rises in US News & World Report Rankings

The College jumped eight spots to No. 18 in the publication's Top Performers on Social Mobility index, which aims to assess how well liberal arts colleges graduate economically disadvantaged students.

Occidental also ranked highly on two of the publication's new lists, which included a separate category for liberal arts colleges for the first time. The College landed at No. 38 in the Most Innovative Schools index, which seeks to identify liberal arts colleges that are making the most innovative improvements in curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology, or facilities. Occidental also debuted at No. 42 in Undergraduate Teaching Programs. Previous years' versions of these lists categorized only national universities.

US News' annual rankings compare Occidental to 210 public and private liberal arts colleges across the United States, looking at more than a dozen factors that include student graduation rates, peer assessment, and financial resources.