the most selective college in Minnesota.
Carleton has a history of enrolling students who are in the National Merit Scholarship Program, often enrolling more than any other liberal arts college in the nation. The class of 2026 included 38 National Merit Scholars.
=== Rankings ===
Carleton has been in the top 10 liberal arts colleges since 1997 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings. For 2025, it ranks tied for 8th overall, 1st for "Best Undergraduate Teaching", and 17th for "Best Value". In 2019, the Washington Monthly ratings — using criteria of social mobility, research, and service — ranked Carleton the 24th best college in the liberal arts college category. In the 2019 Forbes ranking of 650 American colleges, which combines liberal arts colleges, service academies and national research universities, Carleton is ranked 52nd.
Kiplinger's Personal Finance places Carleton 13th in its 2019 ranking of the 149 best value liberal arts colleges in the United States. Carleton was ranked 5th in the 2015 Brookings …
