Carleton College is a private liberal arts college in the historic town of Northfield, Minnesota. The college enrolled 2,014 undergraduate students and employed 245 instructional faculty members in fall 2015. Carleton is one of few liberal arts colleges that runs on the trimester system.In its 2016 edition of national liberal arts college rankings, U.S. News & World Report ranked Carleton eighth-best overall and first for undergraduate teaching.
Admission to Carleton has been deemed "most selective" by U.S. News & World Report with the
most recent incoming class of 2019 admitting 20.6% of applicants, making the
institution the most selective in Minnesota. For the Class of 2019 (enrolled fall 2015), 211 of the 689 early decision
applicants were accepted (30.6%) and 1,177 of the 6,033 regular decision
applicants were accepted (19.5%). A spot on the waitlist was offered to 1,350
applicants, of whom 442 accepted and 16 were ultimately admitted (3.6%). Enrolling freshmen numbered 491, making the yield rate (the percentage
of accepted students who enroll) 37.0%. Of the 224 who
applied for transfer admission, 14 were admitted (6.3%), and 3 enrolled.
Carleton has a strong history of enrolling students who are in the National Merit Scholarship
Program, often enrolling more than any other liberal arts college in the
nation. Its Class of 2016 included 79 National Merit
Scholars.
Business Insider ranked Carleton as the 7th smartest liberal arts college based on SAT scores and 26th smartest college overall in 2014. Kiplinger's Personal Finance places Carleton at 12th in its 2014 ranking of best value liberal arts colleges in the "United States. Carleton was ranked 5th in the 2015 Brookings Institution's list of "Four-Year or Higher Colleges With the Highest Value-Added With Respect to Mid-Career Earnings", with Carleton adding an estimated 43% in value, raising the predicted mid-career salary of $76,236 to $117,700. In a 2012 study of higher education institutions, Carleton was listed as the number one peer institution among liberal arts colleges, followed by Oberlin and Bowdoin, as well as number one overall followed by Princeton.
Carleton consistently ranks high among liberal arts colleges in the nation,
ranking as high as 3rd in 1988 by the U.S. News & World
Report. They have also ranked Carleton in the top 10
for 25 years since its inception and in the top 5 for 9 of those years, with its 2016 ranking placing it 8th. The 2016
U.S. News & World Report high school counselor rankings place
Carleton tied for 13th place among liberal arts colleges. In 2015, Washington
Monthly rankings — using criteria of social mobility, research, and
service — ranked Carleton 2nd best college in the liberal arts college
category. In the 2015 Forbes magazine ranking of American colleges, which
combines liberal arts colleges and national research universities, the college
is ranked 30th.