Academic Reputation

2025-26

Finalized 5-21-2025

Classified by the Carnegie Foundation as an Arts and Sciences institution, Augustana has had a chapter of the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society since 1950. Ten percent of U.S. colleges and universities have Phi Beta Kappa chapters.

Admission is selective. Students accepted to Augustana typically rank in the top quarter of their high school classes and score well above national norms on the ACT and SAT. For the Class of 2028, the ACT mid-range score was 21-28.

Thirty-eight percent of 2024 Augustana's graduates applied to graduate school. Ninety-three percent of the 2024 graduates who applied to graduate or professional school were accepted into their first or second choice. Ninety-nine percent of 2024 graduates were employed, continuing their education, in a service position or pursuing other opportunities within six months of graduation.

More than 90 percent of the full-time faculty hold doctorates or the terminal degrees in their fields. All classes are taught by faculty; Augustana does not have graduate teaching assistants. The 12-to-1 student-faculty ratio allows students to work closely with professors and advisors while pursuing their academic careers. The largest majors for 2025 graduates were business administration, biology and psychology, followed by education, computer science and accounting.

Augustana College was ranked No. 100 in U.S. News and World Report's 2025 ranking of best national liberal arts colleges.

U.S. News and World Report also ranked Augustana as:

• No. 96 in Best Value Schools

• No. 126 in Top Performers on Social Mobility

Other rankings:
Academic All-Americans: No. 14 nationally for number of Academic All-Americans; No. 1 in our conference

Niche 2025: No. 58 on the list of best liberal arts colleges in America

Princeton Review 2025: Best in the Midwest 2025

Study Abroad Aide 2024: Top 35% in the world for best value university for international students

Money magazine 2024: Ranked one of the Best Colleges in America

College Factual 2024: No. 92 out of 1,076 Best Education Schools

Augustana’s curriculum and faculty are consistently recognized through grants for innovative projects by major foundations, including the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, National Institutes of Health, John Deere Foundation, National Science Foundation, Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, the Austin E. Knowlton Foundation, the Teagle Foundation and the Wallenberg Foundations of Sweden.

Augustana actively promotes, underwrites and administers research projects involving both professors and students. Research work has included major projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the American Chemical Society's Petroleum Research Fund, Argonne National Laboratories and the American Heart Association.

For more information and data about Augustana’s academic community and reputation, see the Office of Institutional Research.