A recent report from U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Colleges 2019” has ranked St. Lawrence University as the 56 best college in the nation.

This just adds to the many recognitions that St. Lawrence has received from Fiske and Kiplinger, Princeton Review and others. This year’s rank is an improvement from last year’s, moving up two places from 58.

One may ask, how could a small school with a population of roughly 2400 students receive this kind of recognition? The answer is much more complex than one may think.

According to North Country Now, St. Lawrence has been included in the Princeton Review’s “The Best 384 Colleges: 2019 Edition.” St. Lawrence was ranked 15 for Most Active Student Government, 14 for Best Career Services, and 18 for Best Run Colleges. Diversity, value, the best alumni network in the nation and so many other things are the reasons St. Lawrence has earned the 56 spot.

The College Consensus website describes St. Lawrence as one of the best colleges in New York in 2018, and Fiske’s annual lists of colleges and universities describes our institution as one that offers the best academic experience for an affordable price. All of the recognition that St. Lawrence has received is a result of decades of effort and commitment to improving as much as possible, which has paid off.

If you ask a St. Lawrence student what they value most about our university, you will get many answers. In terms of what stood out most to him when touring St. Lawrence as a junior in high school, Hunter Dewey ’21 stated, “I really loved the multitude of resources that St. Lawrence has to offer, from Johnson Grab and Go in the Johnson Hall of Science, to the Career Services Center and Student Info Desk in the Student Center.”

For another reason he chose St. Lawrence, he explained, “I really wanted to be close to home to stay involved with my community and I was drawn to the small class sizes and approachability of the professors, you still get that one-on-one time that you do in high school.”

Dewey was drawn to St. Lawrence because of this sense of inclusion and he enjoys having classes with familiar faces on a day-to-day basis. One of his favorite things about St. Lawrence is the hockey and football games. He stated, “I love the school spirit that all the students at St. Lawrence have.” These are many of the things that publications like the Princeton Review do not get a chance to mention.

Makenna Burr ’21 believes there are so many great things about St. Lawrence that contribute to its ranking. She is an Augsbury Scholarship recipient, making it much more feasible to attend college, especially since she is on a pre-health track and has to attend graduate school after getting her undergraduate degree.

When Burr visited St. Lawrence, many things stood out to her. She explained, “SLU offered a sense of home, and of course that’s [what] everyone says, but it’s true. Now being apart of the LINC program, I feel I’m even more a part of campus and the alumni network. I am excited to see what the next two years have to offer here at SLU and I can’t wait to be a part of the network once I graduate. When we celebrate the words ‘Laurentian for Life’ it really is just that.”

Burr’s membership on the swim team has allowed her to be part of her own little family and she helps out at the swim camp held each summer at St. Lawrence. As a treasurer of the class council, she is able to help raise money and have a say in what goes on throughout campus, making her feel involved in the community. This really shows how community-oriented St. Lawrence is.

There is so much more to St. Lawrence than being ranked 56 on the Best Colleges List 2019, but we should be proud of this achievement. Much of this achievement goes to the faculty and staff who work day in and day out to improve campus in any way imaginable. Who knows, maybe we will move up another two spots next year!