Baylor Tops Best Christian Colleges

By Doug Huntington, Christian Post Reporter
Thursday, March 29, 2007

Baylor University tops the list of the best Christian colleges in the nation, according to a ratings system created by a prominent Christian magazine.

RELEVANT, a bimonthly Christian magazine whose purpose is to impact culture, released its first ever "Top 5 College Rankings" in the March/April 2007 issue, compiling the top Christian schools from around the nation.

Christian schools have often been overlooked by national college ranking reports in the past, and the magazine editors felt it was important to let those interested in a Christian-based school know about the varied academic offerings in the United States.

"We felt it was important to offer our readers an insight into the Christian college opportunities that are out there," explained magazine founder and CEO Cameron Strang in a statement. "While many of them are drawn to secular schools for academics, location and student life, we knew there were a handful of Christian-affiliated schools that offer a balanced worldview, top-notch academics and a great spiritual climate. We look at this list as a resource – one that isn't available to our readers through the major college guides like U.S. News & World Report ."

RELEVANT editors compiled the list by creating a scale based on several factors, including academics, student life and spiritual life.

The chosen top five schools are as follows:

1. Baylor University (Waco, Texas) – the largest Baptist-affiliated school in the world and offers over 146 undergraduate degrees
2. Calvin College (Grand Rapids, Mich.) – host of the annual faith and music festival
3. Pepperdine University (Malibu, Calif.) – featuring multiple international campuses as well as a strong athletics program
4. Wheaton College (Wheaton, Ill.) – ranked 11th in the nation in the total number of graduates who go on to earn doctorates
5. Biola University (La Miranda, Calif.) – winner of the Robert and Susan Andringa Award for Advancing Racial Harmony and hosts the annual Biola Media Conference for those interested in the entertainment field

RELEVANT magazine is part of RELEVANT media group whose market is directed at "spiritually focused twentysomethings."

On the web: RELEVANTmagazine.com.