#10 – Follow-Up on the Death of Kean Weaver: Kean Weaver was a trustee for the college, who passed away in the Spring of 2009.  This article was mostly just a link to a story by the Marietta Times.

#9 -UPDATE: MC Student Faces Up To 10 Years for Alleged Stabbing: One of the bigger story lines this Fall was the case of Thomas Robison, who allegedly attempted to rob, then stabbed a Marietta resident.  He had followed the man from a downtown bar all the way up Pike St. to near where the man lived.  The man survived, but suffered injuries to his stomach and hand.  For those looking for an update, the case still hasn’t progressed much since he waived his preliminary hearing in October.  He faces felony charges with up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

#8 – Marietta College Campus Police Take Heat From Locals: What started out with a series of articles by the Marietta Times led to this article, which strayed off topic severely, and ended up not really going anywhere.  The Times series had been published as a precursor to Doo Dah Day, in which there are lots of violations and citations handed out.  Some questioned the need for basically having two police departments in one city.  The complains never really went anywhere.

#7 – Relay for Life is the 13th: Apparently the Relay For Life team sign-up announcement got a lot of attention.  Relay went really well this year, even if my coverage was lacking due to falling asleep.

#6 – Marietta College Statement on the Loss of Caleb White: One of the more sad stories of the year.  Caleb White, a student at Marietta College, passed away after being in a hospital for two weeks.  He was in a single motorcycle accident on Interstate 77 near Charleston, WV.  This article included the message sent out by President Jean Scott regarding his loss.  He will be missed by many.

#5 – Rankings Time: Forbes Ranks Marietta College #112: Forbes, which is one of the many magazines to rank colleges against each other, ranked Marietta #112 in the country.  That puts Marietta ahead of many other colleges in the area.  For further analysis, check out the article.

#4 – Blood Drive Today – Give ‘Til It Hurts: The Spring Blood Drive announcement seemed to be very popular with readers, netting the #4 spot on our list.  We made special note of the fact you received flip flops for giving blood.

#3 – Live Blog:  Student Senate Townhall Meeting: This meeting was a chance for students to ask candidates about what they would do with Student Senate.  This was Writing on the Mall’s first big event, and a lot of people started reading the blog because of this article.  We continued to cover Student Senate throughout the year, including a meeting or two, and its Student Speak-Out in the Fall.

#2 – Book Buying Tips: One of the first articles I wrote for Writing on the Mall, and sometimes still cite, was an article about saving money on textbooks.  More people are using services away from the college bookstore to save money, which is good.  Digital textbooks are trying to catch on, but are still expensive and have no resale value.  We’ll have an updated article for the Spring book-buying season here soon.

#1 – Top 10: MC Stories of 2008: Ironically, the #1 most-read story of 2009 was…the College’s Top 10 stories of 2008.

If you’re looking for another helpful student media, the Marcolian is less of a newsy paper (usually runs every other week, but that may be changing) and more of a magazine.  They cover big campus events, but tell more of the story than just telling you what happened.  There are more editorials and opportunities for students to speak their mind and get their point across.

Headlines in this week’s Marcolian:

• Matriculation Ceremony takes place tonight
• Marietta College ranked 112th in Nation
• MC Students travel to Central America
• Planetarium community events scheduled for August, September
• Soccer coach expects greatness
• Football team prepares for season of growth
• Local Churches
• Student Discounts
• Fine Arts on Campus
• President welcomes Class of 2013
• Senior gives prospective on summer
• Del Mar’s Baja Grill disappoints
• Freshman offers fresh perspective
• Campus Organizations
• Cable Channel Guide

Writing on the Mall will be posting a few more guides now based off of a few of the Marc articles (Church Guide, Campus Organization Guide), but already has guides featuring the Cable Channel Listing (which was updated today to include digital channels for those with Digital Tuners), Area Concert Guide, and more.

And as a side note, Del Mar’s is really tasty (in my opinion) so I disagree with the Op/Ed saying that it lacks flavor and experience.  They just opened, they’re still training and hiring.  Cut them some slack.  And I think its tasty and flavorful.  But make your own opinion.

Pick up a copy of the Marcolian today to read all of the articles they have this week.

Marietta was ranked #112 in the country out of all schools that they ranked (the list is out of 600 schools) and, while not officially, ranked within the top 100 private colleges (I say this because they have a list of all the private colleges in the top 100, which is 89 schools, and since I’m not sure which schools are public or private, we are either in the top 100 or #101). In the state of Ohio, Marietta was ranked 4th (Behind #22 Kenyon, #74 College of Wooster, and #88 Oberlin College).

In the OAC. Capital was the closest ranked to Marietta.  They were ranked #138.  Otterbein was #221, John Carroll was #273, Baldwin-Wallace was #335, Mount Union was #481, and Ohio Northern was #570.  Heidelberg, Muskingum, and Wilmington were not ranked in the Top 600 schools.

For comparison, the highest ranked public college in ohio, Miami University in Oxford, OH, was ranked #331.  The Ohio State University was ranked #361.  Marietta also outranks all colleges listed on the poll from West Virginia, with Bethany College (WV’s highest ranked school) listed at #164.

So in other words, its great to be a Marietta College student.  And if you’re a high school senior looking to attend one of the best colleges in Ohio, you should check out MC.

Check out Marietta College’s Press Release after the jump.

Posted by Tom Perry:

Forbes.com, which is in its second year of ranking U.S. colleges and universities, lists Marietta College in the top 19 percent of “America’s Best Colleges.”

Marietta has moved up 56 spots from a year ago to the 112th Best College. The rankings include 600 of the roughly 4,000 undergraduate institutions. The ranking places Marietta between the Knox College (111) and Bates College (113).

Leading the rankings are the U.S. Military Academy, Princeton, California Institute of Technology, Williams, Harvard and Wellesley.

“It’s always nice to be recognized among the best in the nation. Of course, the real proof of a Marietta College education lies in the overall educational experience that our undergrads receive and what our alumni accomplish in their professional lives,” said David Rhodes, Vice President for Enrollment Management. “It is also important to remember that any assessment can only touch the surface of the excellence of Marietta or any college. However, we are excited to know that Forbes’ rankings recognize we have worked hard to provide a strong fundamental program in the liberal arts, to strengthen our majors, provide internships, enhance our facilities and expand and deepen our faculty in important areas. That is what makes — and will keep — Marietta College strong.”

Forbes describes its rankings methodology as “one that meets students needs. While some college rankings are based partly on school reputation as evaluated by college administrators and on the amount of money spent, we focus on things which directly concern incoming students: Will my courses be interesting and rewarding? Will I get a good job after I graduate? Is it likely I will graduate in four years? Will I incur a ton of debt getting my degree?”

To answer these questions, the staff at Center for College Affordability and Productivity gathered data from a variety of sources. They based 25 percent of the rankings on 4 million student evaluations of courses and instructors, as recorded on the Web site RateMyProfessors.com. Another 25 percent is based on post-graduate success, equally determined by enrollment-adjusted entries in Who’s Who in America, and by salaries of graduates reported by Payscale.com. An additional 20 percent is based on the estimated average student debt after four years.

One-sixth of the rankings are based on four-year college graduation rates—half of that is the actual graduation rate, the other half the gap between the average rate and a predicted rate based on characteristics of the school. The last component is based on the number of students or faculty, adjusted for enrollment, who have won nationally competitive awards like Rhodes Scholarships.

The complete Best Public Colleges list can be found here.

Marietta College’s listing can be found here.

Marietta has traditionally done well in rankings, especially among the best in the Midwest for U.S. News and World Report and Princeton Review. Those rankings are schedule to be released later this month