The Hot Schools Of 2004

Rhodes College, Memphis, Tenn.

Applications have been way up at this small liberal-arts college founded in 1848. Get set for tough competition: half the 483 freshmen graduated in the top 10 percent of their high-school classes. Maybe they're coming for the gorgeous Gothic campus or palatial dorms. But since more students nationwide are heading to graduate school instead of facing the job market, it may have something to do with Rhodes's record: 97 percent of its students who apply to law school are accepted (the national average is 62 percent); the numbers are comparable for med-school applicants.

Rhodes students also apply to Vanderbilt, Emory, Davidson and Duke.

© 2003