Luther College named 2016 ‘Hidden Gem’ college in Iowa

Luther College named 2016 ‘Hidden Gem’ college in Iowa

College Raptor, a free college-matching platform, has named Luther College the best “Hidden Gem” institution in Iowa in an announcement published today.

This marks the second year of the College Raptor “Hidden Gem” review, which aims to highlight colleges and universities around the country that may be overlooked by students weighing their college options, but that stand out in terms of academic rigor and student success.

“Hidden Gem” colleges were determined based on the number of applicants, the number of enrolled students, and the institution’s national ranking, according to data obtained by College Raptor through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.

“There are many great colleges across the country,” said Tyler Hakes, director of marketing at College Raptor. “In some cases, you have colleges ranked in the top 150 or 200 schools in the nation, but they receive relatively few applicants simply because they don’t have the brand name of other institutions.”

In order to qualify, institutions must have received fewer than 5,000 applications in the previous application cycle for which data is available and enroll at least 1,000 undergraduate students. From this set, the top-ranked college, nationally, was selected from each state.

The national ranking or “Overall Ranking” is determined based on academic and outcome data, including graduation rate, selectivity, student-to-faculty ratio and other factors.

Luther was one of 49 institutions recognized across the country. One college was named from each state, with the exception of Alaska, which did not have an institution meeting the criteria for recognition.

View the full list of Hidden Gems colleges here: http://bit.ly/HiddenGems2016.

College Raptor, Inc.

College Raptor builds products to help students, parents and college enrollment managers resolve some of the biggest challenges in college planning. It is the only college search platform that allows users to estimate their individual “net” cost for attending every four-year college in the United States. As a result, students and their families discover quality college options they might never have considered because of a lack of awareness or financial concerns. For more information about College Raptor, visit www.CollegeRaptor.com.