2025 College Rankings

Washington and Lee University’s leadership is under pressure from activists. The school has not adopted a policy of institutional neutrality, and it shows in its alignment with various activist causes. Notably, W&L filed a brief at the Supreme Court in the Students for Fair Admissions case in support of affirmative action, demonstrating that, in this instance, it prioritized diversity over merit. The university also maintains a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy, with more than two DEI staff members per 1,000 students. A quarter of faculty job postings require a DEI statement.

The administration’s record on free speech is mixed. On average, most students believe that W&L values free speech and that the administration would defend a speaker’s right to express controversial views. Still, the school employs a bias-response system, designed to police opinions that some may find offensive. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) gives W&L a “yellow” speech code rating, indicating that its policies could easily be abused to suppress speech. The university has endorsed the Chicago Principles, which promote the protection of free expression.

Faculty are far more politically diverse than at most institutions we studied. In fact, faculty campaign giving at W&L is the most balanced of any school that we studied. In the 2023–24 campaign cycle, 53 percent of donations went to conservative or Republican causes and almost 47 percent went to liberal or Democratic causes. Students, when asked to place their professors on an ideological scale, where 1 is “very liberal” and 7 is “very conservative,” put them at 2.7. More than 1 percent of faculty members, a relatively large share in our survey, belong to the Academic Freedom Alliance, an organization that encourages free inquiry on campus.

Students at W&L are an ideologically diverse group. For every conservative student, there are 1.4 liberals, and the number of liberal and conservative student political organizations is evenly matched. However, in recent years, left-wing activists have attempted to disrupt several campus events.

The curriculum at W&L, while passable, is marred by some dubious course requirements. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) gives the school a B in its What Will They Learn? ratings, which assign letter grades based on how many of seven core subjects are required in the core curriculum or general education program. At the same time, the school requires its students to take DEI-focused courses to graduate yet neglects more academically serious subjects, such as history and government.

W&L offers strong economic value to its students. Six-year graduation and retention rates significantly exceed predictions, based on SAT scores and Pell Grant data. The predicted six-year graduation rate is 91.5 percent, while the actual rate is 95 percent. The predicted retention rate is 95 percent, while the actual rate is 98 percent. On average, it takes 2.2 years to pay back the cost of a W&L education—roughly in line with our benchmark of 2.3 years. Graduate earnings also exceed expectations, by over $8,000.