Rankings and Reputation

Gettysburg College is recognized nationally and ranks among top colleges in the country for our value, programs, and liberal arts experience.

The value of a Gettysburg education is underscored by the great work of our students and alumni who, by applying the knowledge and skills they gained here, are continuously making a positive impact on the world.

Princeton Review

Gettysburgians have proven themselves to be trailblazers of growth and innovation, and these efforts, combined with an enriching campus environment, have resulted in numerous recognitions by Princeton Review on its list of the Best 390 Colleges: 2025 Edition. This honor highlights the College’s prestigious and competitive climate, in academics and elsewhere.

  • No. 10 in ‘Best Classroom Experience’

    From First-Year Seminars to senior capstones, Gettysburg College students participate in classes across multiple disciplines through our rigorous, contemporary liberal arts and sciences curriculum. Through the Gettysburg Approach, students acquire a breadth and depth of knowledge and set of enduring skills as they synthesize information and ideas, draw connections, and learn and explore in new and different ways. Experiential learning opportunities, such as student-faculty research and the Guided Pathways, further extend learning from the classroom into real-world applications.

  • No. 3 in ‘Everyone Plays Intramural Sports’

    With nearly 90% of all students participating in our extensive intramural, club sports, and campus recreation programs each semester, Gettysburg College is an active campus, both physically and intellectually. 

  • No. 7 in ‘Students Study the Most’

    Both students and faculty at Gettysburg College are passionate about the great work they do, fully immersing themselves in high-impact learning experiences. Approximately 75% of Gettysburg alumni over the past eight years have completed at least one internship during their time at Gettysburg. More than 60% of the 2024 graduating class served in at least one leadership role on campus, and nearly 60% of the Class of 2024 collaborated on research projects with faculty. 

  • No. 17 in ‘Best Campus Food’

    Fueling students’ minds and bodies with quality foods is a top priority for our award-winning Dining Services. In addition to the dining center, which Gettysburg students fondly refer to as Servo, there are three other dining options on campus—The Bullet Hole, The Dive, and Commons Marketplace—which sell everything from made-to-order burgers and fries to sandwiches, snacks, coffee, and freshly made smoothies.

  • No. 2 in ‘Great Financial Aid’

    Gettysburg College remains committed to working with students and their families to ensure that the ability to pay tuition does not become an obstacle to a Gettysburg education. For the 2023-2024 academic year, Gettysburg College awarded more than $96 million in merit scholarships and need-based grants, which benefitted nearly 60% of the student body.

  • No. 14 in ‘Best Athletic Facilities’

    Gettysburg's state-of-the-art, 55,000-square-foot John F. Jaeger Center for Athletics, Recreation, and Fitness is a light-filled, contemporary facility that serves our students. The facility boasts a fitness center, bouldering area, rock-climbing wall, and a natatorium. Competition venues on the campus for football, soccer, softball, lacrosse, field hockey, tennis, and more sports serve the College's Bullets men's and women's sports teams.

Additional recognition from Princeton Review

    • Best Value Colleges
      • Ranked among top Best Value Colleges (private schools) for highest ROI (return on investment): 90/99
  • Colleges That Create Futures
  • Green Colleges
  • Best Colleges: Mid-Atlantic Region

U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 Best Colleges

U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges rankings evaluate 1,500 ranked colleges and universities and consider 19 measures of academic quality for national universities and 13 indicators for national liberal arts colleges, regional universities, and regional colleges. The 2025 rankings reflect measurements of outcomes related to how successful an institution is at enrolling and graduating students from different backgrounds with manageable debt and postgraduate success.

Gettysburg College’s rankings are:

  • No. 55 among national liberal arts colleges
  • No. 68 among national liberal arts colleges for best value 
  • No. 20 among national liberal arts colleges for first-year experiences and No. 50 in the nation
  • No. 35 among national liberal arts colleges for best undergraduate teaching 
  • No. 23 among national liberal arts colleges for best undergraduate psychology programs 
  • No. 47 among national liberal arts colleges for best undergraduate economics programs

Forbes America’s Top Colleges

Alumni salary, student satisfaction, first-year retention rate, American leaders (within Forbes’s database of successful leaders), on-time graduation rate, and academic success were considered in the ranking of Forbes Top Colleges.

  • Gettysburg College is ranked No. 58 among liberal arts colleges

Money Magazine’s Best Colleges, Ranked by Value

Money's analysis showcases the country's top 745 colleges based on graduation rates, cost of attendance, financial aid, alumni salaries, and other criteria in its 2024 report of The Best Colleges in America Best Colleges.

  • Gettysburg College's ranking: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Wall Street Journal and College Pulse Best Colleges in the U.S. 2025

The Wall Street Journal, in partnership with College Pulse and Statista, publishes its Best Colleges in the U.S. rankings to recognize the top 500 universities in the country that are doing an outstanding job in higher education. Gettysburg College is ranked No. 26 among liberal arts colleges in the nation.

Colleges and universities are ranked based on student outcomes (70%), learning environment (20%), and diversity (10%). The overall rankings recognize “how well each college sets graduates up for financial success,” along with “how much a school improves students’ chances of graduating and their future earnings.” These outcomes are combined with feedback from respondents surveyed on college life. As a new category for 2025, character score assesses the extent to which students feel the college has developed character strengths that will help them to make a meaningful contribution to society, including moral courage, hopefulness, resilience, wisdom, and a sense for justice.

For the 2025 rankings, nearly 55,000 students and alumni were surveyed online between January and May 2024. Those responses were aggregated with more than 57,000 responses received for the 2024 rankings. Removing duplicate responses, the total sample size of the survey was nearly 112,000 students and alumni. 


Colleges Worth Your Money

Gettysburg College appears in the fifth edition of the college guidebook Colleges Worth Your Money (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024). Gettysburg is one of only 200 institutions selected for inclusion in this college guide written by Andrew Belasco, Dave Bergman, and Michael Trivette. The authors considered more than 75 data points in their evaluation of colleges and universities, including admissions stats, salary and ROI figures of graduates, information on companies that recruit on campus, where students land internships and jobs, and more.

The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE)

The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) reports college student participation in federal elections, which includes data on Gettysburg College dating back to 2014. It examines aggregate student participation in the most recent national election across categories like field of study, age, and sex.

Payscale.com’s College Salary Report

The data used in Payscale’s College Salary Report is collected through Payscale’s ongoing, online compensation survey, where users provide information about jobs, compensation, employer, demographics, and educational background. This data is used to examine early-career and mid-career salaries of alumni.

  • Gettysburg College is ranked No. 17 among liberal arts colleges nationwide.

Learn why Gettysburg College graduates have outstanding post-college outcomes.

Best-In-Class Colleges: Baccalaureate Colleges with an Arts and Sciences Focus

Gettysburg College is recognized by Best-In-Class Colleges among U.S. baccalaureate colleges with an arts and sciences focus delivering an exceptional education. This classification highlights academic institutions with a strong emphasis on undergraduate education and a focus on the arts and sciences in their academic curricula. Best-In-Class Colleges considers colleges and universities that provide a well-rounded education with a range of academic disciplines, foster intellectual growth, promote critical thinking, and inspire students to understand the world more deeply.

  • Best-In-Class Colleges rankings consider comprehensive, objective data from multiple categories: rigorous admissions standards, the caliber of the student body, student retention, on-time graduation, post-college earnings, and manageable student debt after graduation.

The Power of International Education (IIE) Open Doors Report, mid-length study abroad programs

Open Doors is a comprehensive information resource on students who study abroad as part of their academic experience. The data in this annual report are obtained through surveying approximately 1,800 accredited U.S. higher education institutions who award credit for study abroad. At Gettysburg College, nearly 60% of our students study abroad for at least one semester.

  • No. 1 in PA
  • No. 2 in the nation

Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Top Producing Institution

Each year, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) announces the top-producing institutions for the Fulbright Program, the U.S. government's flagship international educational exchange program. Gettysburg College was recognized as Top Producing Institution for receiving one grant and submitting seven applications in 2021. The Fulbright Program was established more than 75 years ago to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Fulbright is the world’s largest and most diverse international educational exchange program.

The 2025 Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce ROI Study: ROI of Liberal Arts Colleges

Using data from the expanded U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard*, the 2025 "Ranking 4,600 Colleges by ROI" evaluates more than 4,000 colleges and universities by their return on investment (ROI) for graduates.

Gettysburg College’s rankings from 10-year to 40-year net present value (NPV)** among approximately 200 liberal arts colleges are presented below:

  • No. 38 among liberal arts colleges based on 10-year NPV.
  • No. 30 among liberal arts colleges based on 15-year NPV.
  • No. 27 among liberal arts colleges based on 20-year NPV.
  • No. 26 among liberal arts colleges based on 30-year NPV.
  • No. 26 among liberal arts colleges based on 40-year NPV.

A separate report issued by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, ROI of Liberal Arts Colleges: Value Adds Up Over Time, found that the ROI at liberal arts institutions is the third highest among the 14 different types of four-year institutions. Higher graduation rates are strongly correlated with higher ROI at liberal arts colleges.

*The earnings data from the College Scorecard include only students who received federal financial aid at the time of enrollment.

**Net Present Value (NPV) refers to how much a sum of money in the future is valued today. NPV considers costs, future earnings, and the length of time required to invest and earn a specific amount over a fixed horizon.

Fiske Guide to Colleges

Led by former New York Times education editor Edward B. Fiske, the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2024, named the No. 1 bestselling college guide, provides prospective students and their parents student testimonials and helpful information, including academic offerings, costs, “quality-of-life” ratings, acceptance rates, and more. It is recommended widely by high school college counselors.

  • On list of 300+ “best and most interesting” four-year colleges in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom