Chris Gehrz probably needs no introduction, but on the off chance that you’re not familiar with him: he is a Christian historian who teaches at Bethel University in Minnesota. I’ve been reading his blog for years now, including in its most recent iteration on Substack.
Chris is working on a book that I’m looking forward to—a guide for Christian parents on how to select a (Christian) college. He visited The Arena last spring to preview this project in progress. Yesterday at his Substack, he reflected on a news item from this weekend that I had missed about Christian college rankings. Here’s a small taste from Chris’s piece, which I encourage you to read in full:
Over the weekend, Fox News’ website published an article by David Unsworth: “America’s top Christian colleges and universities.”1 Now, I don’t dispute his opening claim that “some of the world’s leading faith-based institutions of higher learning are located in the United States.” And if you have to single out as “noteworthy” just eleven of the “approximately 600 Christian colleges across the U.S.,” most of Unsworth’s choices are pretty non-controversial. By reputation, among other markers, Wheaton, Westmont, Taylor, Calvin, Messiah, Gordon, Biola, and (yes) Bethel are commonly held up as exemplars of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. And one that isn’t — College of the Ozarks — does stand out because of its commitment to debt-free education.
Chris rightly notes several problems with Unsworth’s article, including the omission of any Catholic colleges and universities from the list.
I’ll add two more reflections about the whole college ranking business, which is frankly as scientific as Miss America pageants.
- A key factor for ranking colleges is selectivity. This means that a college that has an extremely high acceptance rate will be ranked relatively lower. So, by this metric, the Ivy Leagues are doing great, because they’re able to reject 90+% of applicants. And yet, something is to be said for self-selection. I know of several small Christian colleges that have an acceptance rate that is comparable to Harvard’s rejection rate. And you know what? They are really phenomenal colleges. But by what metric? That brings us to point #2.
- We live in an age obsessed with quantitative data and research. There’s a rubric for everything!!! But as economist Catherine Pakaluk reminds in her insightful new book Hannah’s Children, qualitative research yields more interesting data that can be much more telling than sheer numbers on some arbitrary scale. In the case of evaluating Christian colleges, in particular, you will learn more from visiting a campus, talking with faculty, students, and alumni. Do they seem happy? Are they flourishing there? Do they love Jesus more than they love the world? And, in the case of alumni, what does the fruit of their college education look like?
I am not aware of any presently available survey or college ranking system that will offer you this information. But I think Chris’s book project aims to present questions and criteria for parents to consider in conducting this sort of qualitative research, all with the goal of making this ultimately very subjective decision with their children.