From exceptional graduate school and job placement rates to a long list of accolades and awards, our student success looks great in the rankings—but some achievements are immeasurable. Our comprehensive liberal arts experience will spark your curiosity, foster creativity, and inspire your lifelong learning. Our students continue to excel well beyond graduation, using their interests and education to better themselves and the world around them.
Measuring Student Achievement
Our 70+ major options and interdisciplinary programs continue to define the standard for academic excellence, attracting students who are inspired to keep aiming higher. We take pride in their accomplishments, which we document in the following ways:
- Graduation rate and postgraduate scholarship and fellowship awards
- Acceptance rates into post-baccalaureate degree programs
- Senior exit survey detailing recent graduates' future plans
- Survey data from our alumni about employment and graduate school attendance
Proven Academic Success at Rhodes and Beyond
Our rigorous liberal arts and science curriculum combined with ongoing support and mentorship ensures our students continued to excel at Rhodes and beyond:
- 98% of Rhodes graduates are employed, attending graduate school, or volunteering full-time one year after earning their degree.
- For the most recent application cycle, Rhodes had an 86% total acceptance rate for all students who applied to law school. Rhodes graduates are currently enrolled at prestigious law schools across the U.S. including Havard, Yale, Virginia, Duke, Washington University, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and NYU.
- Over the past 5 years, Rhodes had an 80% total acceptance rate for all students who applied to medical school (nearly twice the national average). Graduates of Rhodes have matriculated to top medical schools, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, George Washington, the University of Pennsylvania, Baylor, Vanderbilt, and Washington University in St. Louis, among others.
- In a recent senior exit survey, 2/3 of those students attending graduate programs reported being accepted by their first-choice school.
- Rhodes is recognized as a Top Volunteer Producing College for the Peace Corps and as a Top-Producing Institution for the Fulbright U.S. Scholarship Program.
- Rhodes ranks in the top 2% nationally for the proportion of graduates who go on to earn PhDs over the past 10 years.
Postgraduate Scholarships and Fellowships
- Over the past twenty-five years, Rhodes students have been awarded:
- 70 Fulbright Scholarships
- 22 Goldwater Scholarships (awarded for undergraduate study)
- 18 Watson Fellowships
- 10 National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships
- 6 Emerson National Hunger Fellowships
- 6 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships
- 6 Truman Scholarships (awarded for undergraduate study)
- 5 Boren Scholarships
- 2 Luce Scholarships
- 2 Rhodes Scholarships (Oxford)
Graduate Student Success
Rhodes offers two experiential graduate degree programs—the Master of Science in Accounting and the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Health Equity. Our students have achieved high pass rates on the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam compared to the national average, and both programs boast excellent job outcomes.
Our Master of Science in Accounting program boasts a 100% job placement rate, with 75% joining Big Four firms (Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers) or other national firms, and the rest joining highly regarded regional and local accounting firms or corporations.
