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Catholic PRWire

SANTA PAULA, CA (August 21, 2009) — Thomas Aquinas College is once again ranked in the top tier among the nation’s liberal arts colleges in the 26th edition of U.S. News & World Report’s annual college guide, “America's Best Colleges 2010,” which was released on August 20, 2009. The Catholic college, founded in 1971, is ranked #68 out of 112 schools in Tier 1.

Thomas Aquinas College was ranked also first in the country in the category of “Highest Proportion of Classes under 20 Students,” in recognition of the fact that 100% of its classes have fewer than 20 students. Moreover, the college was ranked by U.S. News as #13 in the country among liberal arts colleges for the relatively low debt that its graduates incur in the course of four years at the school.

Jonathan Daly, Director of Admissions, was pleased by the U.S. News’ rankings. “It is good to see we have maintained our high rankings in the U.S. News college guide. Of particular note is that our placement among the top 15 for ‘least debt incurred by students’ dovetails with our standing as one of only 13 colleges in the country on The Princeton Review’s 2010 ‘Financial Aid Honor Roll.’ These rankings confirm that Thomas Aquinas College is a truly viable option for college-bound students during this economically challenging time.”

“Yet, it is worth noting,” he continues, “that as good as these rankings are, it is hard to quantify the great good that is accomplished in the minds and souls of our students through the college’s rigorous academic curriculum and its unswerving fidelity to the teaching Church. No college ranking system can measure that!”

Orientation for freshmen at the 4-year, Catholic, co-educational school began on August 20. Returning students will arrive throughout the weekend from across the United States and from countries as diverse as Argentina, South Africa, Canada, and Australia. On August 24, the college will hold its annual convocation day, beginning with a Mass of the Holy Spirit in the school’s new Chapel of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, to be offered by Archbishop J. Michael Miller of Vancouver, British Columbia. A formal matriculation ceremony will follow at which new faculty member Dr. Michael Augros will take the oath of fidelity, and 101 freshmen will sign the College’s official registry. Classes will commence on Monday evening, August 24.

ABOUT THOMAS AQUINAS COLLEGE
Thomas Aquinas College is a four-year, Catholic liberal arts college with a fully-integrated curriculum composed exclusively of the Great Books, the seminal works in the major disciplines by the great thinkers who have helped shape Western civilization. There are no textbooks, no lectures and no electives. Instead, under the guidance of faculty members and using only the Socratic method of dialogue in classes of no more than 20, students read and discuss the original works of authors such as Euclid, Dante, Galileo, Descartes, the American Founding Fathers, Adam Smith, Shakespeare, Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, Einstein, Aristotle, Plato, St. Augustine, and of course, St. Thomas Aquinas. Graduates consistently excel in the many world-class institutions at which they pursue graduate degrees in fields such as law, medicine, business, theology and education. They have distinguished themselves serving as lawyers, doctors, business owners, priests, military service men and women, educators, journalists and college presidents.

Contact

thomas aquinas college
http://thomasaquinas.edu/news/pressroom/index.html  CA, 93060 US
Anne  Forsyth - director of college relations, 805 525-4417

Keywords

US News

Category

Catholic Schools & Religious Education