Samford University is the 87th oldest college or university in the United States and one of the best buys in American higher education. Witness its recognition by numerous prestigious national publications and listings:
- Money magazine named Samford the 26th "Best Buy" in the nation in its 1997 listing of America's best educational values.
- U.S. News and World Report listed Samford as one of the top 10 per cent of America's regional universities.
- Peterson's Competitive Colleges 1996-97 noted that Samford is one of the top 10 per cent of American colleges and universities that "consistently attract the brightest students."
- Barron's Profiles of American Colleges placed Samford in the "Very Competitive" category.
- The John H. Templeton Foundation cited Samford as one of the top 100 schools offering the best character-building education and, in a separate listing, one of the top 100 institutions in teaching free enterprise.
Samford enrolls over 4,400 students from 40 states and 30 nations. The University features small classes taught by an outstanding, dedicated faculty in modern facilities on one of the most beautiful campuses in America. Its newly-designed Co-Nexus program emphasizes interdisciplinary learning and emerging technology.
Samford offers 89 academic majors in eight schools - arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, law, music, nursing and pharmacy. As a computer-intensive environment, the University places world-changing technology at every student's fingertips in courses across the curriculum.
In addition to strong liberal arts programs, Samford offers the only fully-accredited private law school in Alabama and one of only two accredited law schools in the state (Cumberland School of Law), the only private pharmacy school in Alabama (McWhorter School of Pharmacy), and the only divinity school in the state (Beeson School of Divinity).
Undergirding Samford's educational program is an endowment of more than $163 million, which places the University in the top 4 per cent of America's 3,600 colleges and universities, and support from the Alabama Baptist State Convention. The endowment was bolstered in 1990-91 by a bequest of $54 million from the estate of longtime supporter Ralph Beeson, one of the largest such gifts in the history of American education.
Committed to teaching students how to thrive in the "global village" of the 21st century, Samford offers studies on four continents and maintains an International Study Center in London, England. Former Middle East hostage Terry Waite, speaking at Commencement several years ago, praised Samford's international programs "for getting young people together with people of another culture ... that pays enormous dividends in the future."
