Wellesley dropped to No. 7 in the U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Liberal Arts College rankings, marking the first time the College fell out of the top 5 schools in a decade. 

This year’s ranking is the lowest position the College has held since placing seventh in the 2014 edition. Wellesley has maintained a placement of No.5 or higher dating back to 1993, except in the years 2012-2014. 

Wellesley is also ranked 8th among the nation’s best value schools, 17th in top performers in social mobility, and 23rd at best undergraduate teaching, in other U.S. News ranking lists.  

U.S. News & World Report releases annual rankings of U.S. universities and liberal arts colleges based on various factors, including graduation and retention rates, social mobility, borrower debt, post-graduate salary and faculty-student ratio.

Williams College and Amherst College continue to reign as the top two schools, followed by Swarthmore College. United States Naval Academy is ranked 4th, while Bowdoin College and Pomona College are tied at No. 5. 

This year’s ranking methodology still takes schools’ test-optional policy into consideration. For schools where less than 50% of new entrants reported their SAT/ACT scores, the report does not consider standardized testing and instead increases the portion of graduation rate in the composite ranking score from 16% to 21%. 

Given more than 50% of the enrolling first-year class submitted their test scores, U.S News assesses Wellesley College based on its regular methodology, with standardized scores and graduation rates each taking up 5% and 16% in calculating the overall ranking score. However, it remains unclear what figures might have prompted a drop in the College’s standings this year.

The College declined to comment.

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Sazma Sarwar, Lyanne Wang