Awards and Rankings

Samford University was previously ranked by U.S. News & World Report among master's levels universities in the South but was reclassified as a national university in 2006 because of the diversity of undergraduate and graduate degrees offered. In the 2008 rankings, Samford was number 118 of the 262 institutions in the doctoral research university category.

Four Samford professors have been named Carnegie Professor of the Year for Alabama since 1994.

Samford is selected annually for inclusion in Peterson's Competitive Colleges.

Samford has been recognized in The Templeton Guide: Colleges That Encourage Character Building for its First-Year and Civic Education programs.

Samford is rated as "very competitive" by Barron's Profiles of American Colleges.

Samford's Orlean Bullard Beeson School of Education and Professional Studies has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, receiving its National Award for Effective Teacher Preparation. [Seasons Magazine article]

Samford's endowment of more than $230 million places it in the top five percent of the more than 3,600 universities and colleges in America.

Samford has been Alabama's largest private university or college for over 50 years.  It enrolls 4,416 students from more than 40 states and 30 nations.

Samford has one of only two accredited law schools, Cumberland, and one of only two accredited pharmacy schools, McWhorter, in Alabama.   Samford also has the only divinity school in the state.  Its Beeson School of Divinity, founded in 1988, was the first divinity school on a Southern Baptist university or college campus.

Samford is listed as one of the Colleges of Distinction and is a College-Bound Coalition member.