Christian liberal arts colleges are a great option for students seeking a higher education that combines faith with a well-rounded undergraduate experience. The best Christian liberal arts colleges are schools that offer a diverse set of degree programs and personalized instruction through a Christian lens.
What is a Christian liberal arts college?
Christian liberal arts colleges are private, independent schools that receive their funding through a combination of endowment income and student tuition fees, as well as in some cases through denominational giving. The best Christian liberal arts colleges in America provide smaller class sizes and more direct engagement with professors, giving students the opportunity to explore their Christian faith while studying a variety of humanities and sciences. For many students, Christian liberal arts colleges represent the chance to earn a well-rounded undergraduate degree in a wholesome environment among classmates who share a common set of Christian values.
The following list of the best Christian liberal arts schools is composed entirely of four-year undergraduate colleges and universities. We’ve identified a total of 486 Christian liberal arts colleges in the US. In order to be included in this list of best Christian liberal arts colleges and universities, a school needs to satisfy the following three conditions:
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why, at the undergraduate level, we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we call “Concentrated Influence”. Concentrated Influence takes the combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers (including faculty and alums) and divides it by the school’s total number of undergraduates.
Using concentrated influence gives small and mid-sized schools an opportunity to shine by taking away the size advantage of larger universities. A small school with proportionately more influential faculty than a large school, whose influence in absolute terms may be bigger, will nonetheless score higher in a concentrated influence ranking. Our approach highlights undergraduate schools that truly rank for excellence, regardless of size.
If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence.
Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
88%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1330/29
Wheaton College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
59%
Graduation
67%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1235/26
Earlham College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$41K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
69%
Student body
2K
Drew University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
38%
Graduation
93%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1345/30
College of the Holy Cross’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
71%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1077/22
Westminster College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$43K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
84%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1220/26
Saint Anselm College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
92%
Graduation
53%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1135/24
Ave Maria University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
39%
Graduation
93%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1415/31
Macalester College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$40K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
72%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1135/23
Hanover College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
65%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1185/26
Eckerd College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$27K
Acceptance
54%
Graduation
42%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1107/20
Huntingdon College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
20%
Graduation
93%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1397/31
Davidson College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$51K
Acceptance
51%
Graduation
82%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1325/29
Rhodes College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$19K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
50%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1050/21
Dillard University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$34K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
59%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/23
St. Mary's University, Texas’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$42K
Acceptance
92%
Graduation
74%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1215/26
Transylvania University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$47K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
67%
Student body
2K
Ohio Wesleyan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$25K
Acceptance
96%
Graduation
46%
Student body
1K
Trinity Washington University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$45K
Acceptance
54%
Graduation
69%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1245/27
University of Dallas’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
71%
Graduation
65%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1255/29
Hendrix College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
86%
Graduation
72%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1185/24
Elizabethtown College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$40K
Acceptance
59%
Graduation
63%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1140/23
Saint Francis University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$44K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
75%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1180/25
John Carroll University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$21K
Graduation
65%
Student body
3K
Bob Jones University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
73%
Student body
2K
Wagner College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
72%
Graduation
47%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/21
Houston Baptist University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
36%
Graduation
90%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1345/30
Lafayette College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$51K
Acceptance
51%
Graduation
85%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1310/29
St. Olaf College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$47K
Acceptance
56%
Graduation
80%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1245/27
Sewanee: The University of the South’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$51K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
73%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1265/27
Allegheny College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$18K
Acceptance
71%
Graduation
34%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
985/20
Louisiana College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$46K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
70%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1170/25
Manhattan College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$54K
Acceptance
54%
Graduation
85%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1280/29
Providence College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$26K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
50%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1075/23
Xavier University of Louisiana’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$46K
Acceptance
34%
Graduation
79%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1370/30
Trinity University ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$24K
Acceptance
95%
Graduation
46%
Student body
1K
Mount Aloysius College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$51K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
75%
Student body
3K
Susquehanna University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$47K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
82%
Student body
3K
Stonehill College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$45K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
65%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/22
Hamline University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$51K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
81%
Student body
5K
Loyola University Maryland’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$51K
Acceptance
56%
Graduation
82%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1280/28
Fairfield University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$44K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
63%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1095/21
Mount St. Mary's University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
75%
Student body
2K
Saint Michael's College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
75%
Graduation
36%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
849/15
Virginia Union University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$19K
Acceptance
60%
Graduation
71%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1210/25
Birmingham–Southern College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$34K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
65%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1190/24
Houghton College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$16K
Acceptance
71%
Graduation
19%
Student body
1K
Shaw University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$42K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
69%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1175/25
Xavier University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$46K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
67%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1222/26
Cornell College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Stay informed! Get the latest Academic Influence news, information, and rankings with our upcoming newsletter.