Oregonian
August 26th, 2014
Oregon State University's is Oregon's best big research university, ranking No. 78 nationally, according to rankings of colleges by Washington Monthly that the magazine claims is "aren't ridiculous" like many other rankings.
Oregon State ranked high for admitting lots of low-income students, giving reasonable financial aid to students from families making less than $75,000 and getting a high proportion of its students to graduate.
Washington Monthly's ranking system is based chiefly on whether a college helps low- and moderate-income students get ahead, does lots of research and promotes public service. Oregon State's rating was boosted by the fact that a lot of its students join the Peace Corps or the Reserve Officers Training Corps.
According to its rankings, the Pacific Northwest has one true shining star when viewed on the national landscape -- and it's the University of Washington. The magazine says the UW is amazing at research and at getting students to graduate -- and does a phenomenal job of offering an affordable high-quality education to students of modest means.
According to the magazine, Reed, Whitman and Lewis & Clark colleges are the Pacific Northwest's top liberal arts schools, ranking No. 6, No. 29 and No. 34 respectively among the 246 liberal arts colleges nationwide the magazine ranked