Pomona Drops in US News Rankings, Tying Claremont McKenna

Pomona College gates. Photo credit: Officialpomonacollege.

The U.S. News & World Report released its 2026 rankings for liberal arts colleges on Tuesday. Pomona College slipped down to seventh place, now tied with Claremont McKenna College and Wellesley.

Pomona was ranked third in 2023, fourth in 2024, and fifth in 2025 before dropping further to seventh place this year. Meanwhile, CMC rose from 11th in 2024 to eighth in 2025, now tying Pomona for the first time since U.S. News began publishing its rankings.

Harvey Mudd College placed tenth, and Scripps and Pitzer tied for 37th place.

The U.S. News formula draws on 17 metrics – including career and financial outcomes, graduation rate, expert opinion, monetary resources, and faculty accessibility – supplied by colleges and third-party sources to calculate its rankings. 

“Rankings may shift due to changes in a school's data, peer institutions' data or methodological adjustments,” the director of the U.S. News Education Data Analysis team said in an explainer article.

“The 2026 edition retains the same ranking factors, weights and placement in categories as the prior year, but changes to how a few ranking factors were treated could impact some schools' rankings.”

Pomona also fared poorly in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s 2026 Free Speech Rankings, which were released earlier this month. The liberal arts college placed 247th out of 257 schools, receiving an “F” grade for its speech climate. Claremont McKenna placed first, but earned only a "B-" grade.