Hi Bev,

I'm a writer at U.S. News & World Report interested in examples of schools that still welcome (and do a great job with) B students. Can you help?

Anne McGrath

U.S. News & World Report

Dear Anne,

With more than 3700 colleges and universities in the US, only about one percent of those are considered highly selective, with overall acceptance rates that vary from 7 percent to approximately 30 percent. These are the colleges and universities with the brand names, the colleges that make it into the rankings of US News & World Report, and the same colleges that tens of thousands of students compete for acceptance each year.

The colleges not in this top tier typically accept students with grade point averages of ‘B+’ or lower. Of the hundreds of schools in any of these less selective categories, many of them are well known state universities and many of them are private institutions that are brand names as well.

Do these colleges “do a great job” with ‘B’ students? Maybe, but it all depends upon the particular college, the individual departments within the college, the student population, the faculty, and the college’s endowments. Most of all, this depends upon the individual student and what he/she expects to achieve from a college education. Colleges may have wonderful resources, but if a student does not take advantage of those resources, that student may feel that the college did not “do a great job.”

Hope this helps and good luck with your article.

~Bev