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U.S. News And World Report's BEST Liberal Arts Colleges 2011 (PHOTOS)

First Posted: 08/18/10 09:50 AM ET   Updated: 05/25/11 06:25 PM ET

To determine which schools would place on its 2011 list of best liberal arts colleges, U.S. News and World Report analyzed 266 schools for reputation, retention, resources, selectivity and graduation rate, among other things. Click through to see which liberal arts schools came out on top, and see U.S. News' full list here.

For another perspective, check out the best liberal arts schools according U.S. News' survey of high school counselors.

What do you think? Are these the liberal arts schools that deserve to be lauded? Weigh in below.

1. Williams College
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To determine which schools would place on its 2011 list of best liberal arts colleges, U.S. News and World Report analyzed 266 schools for ...
To determine which schools would place on its 2011 list of best liberal arts colleges, U.S. News and World Report analyzed 266 schools for ...
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ArtCarnage
105 Fans
03:37 PM on 08/23/2010
No surprises here. What exactly was the point of this?
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NewHavenCountyCT
16 Fans
08:29 AM on 08/23/2010
No Emerson college in Boston?
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bad robot
50 Fans
02:23 AM on 08/20/2010
I know you guys at HP must have a good time making these slides, but how about a little info. ANY info. You show a picture and name. It shouldn't be on a news site, unless you are going to report something, anything, other than a stock photo. Especially in a section about academia. How about where the school is located, how much it costs, how many students, sports teams, etc.
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thortheviking
0 Fans
10:03 AM on 08/19/2010
Haverford and Davidson tied for 9th. I got my liberal arts education at #8. Senior year, lived in the stadium seen in the picture.
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mayakovsky
1 Fans
12:55 AM on 08/19/2010
Picture of #11, Claremont McKenna, was taken at #6, Pomona. Very different architecture.
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PietMondrian
0 Fans
07:54 PM on 08/18/2010
Based on nothing, not a single academic standard. It's the Miss Liberal Arts College Pagent! ... useless information.
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j-tho
272 Fans
07:52 PM on 08/18/2010
colorado college ~ colorado spring!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ChiKevin
132 Fans
01:50 AM on 08/19/2010
two week classes are the devils work

sarcasm off.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ChiKevin
132 Fans
01:50 AM on 08/19/2010
or is it 6 weeks?
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VinceTeeter
17 Fans
07:15 PM on 08/18/2010
Shouldn't that be best conservative arts schools ??
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suntzu
79 Fans
08:03 PM on 08/18/2010
The word "liberal" as it applies to colleges has nothing to do with politics. The word "liberal" is used here in the sense of "books" (liber = book in latin) or in a wider sense "learning."
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CA52
44 Fans
08:50 PM on 08/18/2010
Actually, Colorado College is a fairly liberal college in a very conservative area.
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suntzu
79 Fans
07:05 PM on 08/18/2010
My son, a very modest and self-effacing person, academically 1st in his high school class, is a junior at one of these schools (not to be named) did visit Williams, and thought that it was a great school. But he was bothered by the pervasive "Williams is best" attitude, and decided he preferred a school that was less self-conscious, less "pushy," in that parameter. He is extremely happy where he is, a more relaxed place, which also happens to offer many post-graduate opportunities, none of which Williams has. So it depends on what kind of yardstick you are using to "measure" a school. US News has its own yardstick. But no question Williams is a great school.
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YetAnotherAlex
73 Fans
05:34 PM on 08/18/2010
Ah, good old Smith keeps its rightful place on the list! Go Smithies!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Walter M Roberts III
Classicist
23 Fans
05:22 PM on 08/18/2010
Not a single Ivory League college on the list? Williams and Amherst are fine institutions if you want to be a idyllic bubble far from the realities of the world as it matters: I myself am glad I got both an awesome liberal arts education and a blast of the real world--Columbia College, Columbia University, New York City!
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YetAnotherAlex
73 Fans
05:30 PM on 08/18/2010
It's a list of Liberal Arts schools. The Ivy League universities are not classified as liberal arts schools even though they may have smaller liberal arts schools/programs on campus.
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martiniandabotoxchaser
795 Fans
06:16 PM on 08/18/2010
Ummmm.....Columbia is part of a university and as such is not on this list......size matters.
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joefoss
They'll never take my panache!
304 Fans
05:07 PM on 08/18/2010
Middlebury is too perfect to be believed--it's like a Hollywood-movie version of the ideal, small
New England college.
="Club Midd" offers a first-rate education, and really nice people, in a picture-postcard Vermont setting--like how many schools have their own ski areas?
=Now, if they only would bring back fraternities & sororities!
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bkrider9
541 Fans
06:53 PM on 08/18/2010
And the nightlife and cosmopolitan effervescence are to die for.
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joefoss
They'll never take my panache!
304 Fans
07:51 PM on 08/18/2010
bkrider9:
It seems to be my day to "respond"--but, anyway: You don't go to the middle of Vermont if you want "nightlife and cosmopolitan effervescence"; that's what N.Y.U. and Columbia are for!
=As a New Yorker, I found my idyll in the Green Mountains a delightful change; but, I wouldn't give up NYC for all the maple syrup in New England.
O.K.?
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lrubemp
31 Fans
01:10 AM on 09/24/2010
Sounds like Ole Miss is more your speed. Party on, Garth.

As for me, I wanted to learn to speak French really well, and quickly. Midd me l'a fait possible. Best choice I ever made.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
jl4141
Unless I'm wrong, I'm never wrong.
436 Fans
 
04:33 PM on 08/18/2010
My word, I am shocked -- shocked! -- that the University of Hawaii, Hawaii Pacific University, North Idaho College, the University of Idaho, and Matanuska-Susitna College aren't listed here. Did I forget to mention the University of Idaho? (Some people transfer out then back in from that one before they get their B.A. in Communications.)
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joefoss
They'll never take my panache!
304 Fans
05:08 PM on 08/18/2010
jl4141: I get it! You're talking about Sarah Palin!
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
jl4141
Unless I'm wrong, I'm never wrong.
436 Fans
 
05:20 PM on 08/18/2010
Yeah, but I didn't need you to spell it out for me and everyone else. Thanks, anyway, and see you around the message boards.
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Fred Garvin
2 Fans
02:55 PM on 08/18/2010
The Wesleyan University picture is of Patricelli '92 Theater, originally called "Rich Hall," and it is on Wesleyan University's campus.
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roshni
3995 Fans
02:22 PM on 08/18/2010
Why Wellesley, Vassar, Smith and not Bryn Mawr?
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martiniandabotoxchaser
795 Fans
06:17 PM on 08/18/2010
No idea especially since Haverford and Swarthmore are on the list and Bryn Mawr students take courses at Haverford and Swarthmore...the schools are interchangeable.
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bkrider9
541 Fans
06:54 PM on 08/18/2010
Possible reason: $?
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