By Samuel Hebestreit
Bellarmine outranks some of the best colleges in America for its location and campus, according to Niche.com.
Niche.com ranks Bellarmine 88th out of 1,545 schools for the best college location in America and ranks BU 197th out of 1,396 schools for the best college campuses in America.
Niche rankings are based on an analysis of key statistics that go beyond academics and incorporate values, diversity, safety and even party life. Niche uses statistics from the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation and millions of reviews.
“I think that we’re in a very safe part of Louisville, which is part of the reason we got the location high and because it’s just not very loud. It’s quiet. It’s kind of off the beaten path,” first-year student Jay Lovensheimer said.
BU President Dr. Susan Donovan said she believes the high location ranking has to do with the equal balance of urban scenery and greenery.
“I think a lot of students want to be in a city, but they don’t necessarily want the totally urban environment. They want a feel of a campus with lawn and gathering space and I think Bellarmine hits that out of the park,” Donovan said.
Some students, such as first-year student Alexis Mclaughlin, said BU deserves a higher campus ranking.
“I think it maybe could be a little bit higher. I think that the campus is really pretty with all the greenery,” McLaughlin said.
For the staff who work to maintain BU’s campus, it is the places and their characteristics that earned BU its high campus ranking.
“I think some of the reason that we got a little bit of a higher ranking on our campus is just because of our buildings and our architecture, you know, our entrance arch, some of our nicer buildings,” said Jeff Dean, assistant vice president of facilities and grounds.
Anna Christianson, a professor of inorganic chemistry, said BU’s high location ranking had to do with the school's distance relevant to major states and cities that students originate from.
“It’s easy to get to a lot of the places that our students are coming from, you know, it’s not too far of a drive to like Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago and Nashville,” Christianson said.
When comparing BU’s campus ranking to other colleges that are considered to be “upper-class,” BU holds its own.
“If you go on there (Niche) and look at our overall ranking, I think it was 197, we’re right in there with NC State,” said Dean, “So, when you think of it in that context, if you say Bellarmine is ranked 197, we’re right in the same classification with Baylor and Arizona State and North Carolina State. That makes me feel pretty good that we’re in the same class as some of those universities.”
When viewing Bellarmine’s rankings, it appears BU is moving in an upward trajectory, but there are still some things to work on, Donovan said.
“I read Niche myself, and I know that things were much more positive. I’d love to see better facilities in terms of the Surf Center, and we need to respond to students and figure out what’s helpful to them. I saw that a lot of things are on the rise from the year before, so I think we came out of Covid well. We just need to keep being student-centered and respond to the needs,” said Donovan.
No college in Kentucky outranked BU in the best college location in America. In best college campuses in America, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary ranked 65th and the University of Kentucky ranked 82nd.
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