Incredible Small College Towns
Some people love small town living. There's a lot to be said for this kind of lifestyle. People tend to be friendlier. The pace of life is more relaxed. And accessing the wonders of the countryside is much easier. If you're this kind of person, then you've got plenty of options for your college years. America is replete with colleges that are secluded from the hustle and bustle of the big city. In fact, there are so many colleges that are based in idyllic, rural locations that picking one to attend is a very difficult task.
What makes locating the right college more difficult is that"rural" has a loose definition, especially in a country as geographically diverse as the USA. Do you want to live among the picturesque vistas of New England? Perhaps the heat of the southwest is more your thing? Or could the Rocky Mountains be your idea of a rural paradise?
Luckily, this article has been created to make choosing a small town college easier. It will highlight to you which colleges are truly rural while ensuring that they offer concrete graduate job opportunities and connections that span the globe. It does this by analyzing a range of aspects that each rural college shares, such as town lifestyle, student happiness, activities on offer, employability statistics and more. Also, the list looks at the things that make each rural college unique and stand out from all the others. It then sorts these into dedicated rankings, which you can use in a number of ways. The 30 colleges below are all fine options. But if they aren't right, then you can look at the things that they have in place and their locations. These may provide insights into what it is that you're looking for in a college. And these insights can shape your search so that you ultimately have a set of college choices that have all that you want in small town living.
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Top 30 Rural Colleges
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Factors Considered When Ranking Schools
Our rankings come from dedicated research into what a range of sources name as the best rural colleges. All of our methodology sources are from respected publications that either specialize in college research or convey this information to mainstream audiences. We've also analyzed the small town colleges on an international scale, to see how they are considered outside of their town, state, and country. The sources are below:
College Raptor, Top 25 Best Rural Colleges: 2017 Rankings: https://www.collegeraptor.com/find-colleges/articles/college-comparisons/top-25-best-rural-colleges-2017-rankings/Conde Nast Traveler, The Best College Towns in the U.S.: https://www.cntraveler.com/galleries/2014-10-07/best-college-towns-for-people-who-aren-t-in-collegeBusiness Insider, The 20 Best College towns in America: https://www.businessinsider.com/best-college-towns-in-america-2017-7The Edvocate, 2018 Best Small-Town Colleges and Universities in America: https://www.theedadvocate.org/2018-best-small-town-colleges-universities-america/Schools.com, The 25 Best Small College Towns: https://www.schools.com/articles/25-best-small-college-townsTop Universities/QS, Worldwide Rankings: https://www.topuniversities.com/To qualify as a small rural college on our list, a city must have a population of 200,000 or less.
The advantage of our article compared the methodology sources is that we've worked out the consistent top performers so that you don't have to. The colleges in small towns that multiple lists agree to be great are therefore the highest ranked on our list. However, another advantage of this list over the methodology sources is that we've conducted our own unique research and highlighted why the colleges and their towns are so well regarded.
