With a mission statement founded upon "increase in excellence", the college is consistently ranked among the nation's best private liberal arts institutions. emory & henry college is among the top 40 instituions in the nation that transforms students lives. as noted in one of the nation's best selling college guide books, "virginia has no shortage of familiar schools with robust reputations. but emory & henry does the finest job of them all producing contributors to society" (oswols, colleges that change lives). among other top rankings, the institution is recognized for its service to communities and received top tier recognition in the washington monthly, us news and world report, newsweek and many other publications. most recently, it was named a top 25 rural college in the nation by college raptor.