APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University has been recognized again for its outstanding undergraduate education by The Princeton Review in its 2008 edition of the annual book “The Best 366 Colleges,” which was released today (8/20).
Only about 15% of the four-year colleges and universities in America, as well as two Canadian universities, are included in the book, which features student survey based ranking lists of top 20 colleges in more than 60 categories, ranging from best professors, administration and campus food to student body political leanings, interest in sports and other aspects of campus life. The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges in the book 1 to 366 in any single category.
“We chose schools for this book primarily for their outstanding academics,” says Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s vice president of publishing. “We evaluated them based on institutional data we collect about the schools, feedback from students attending them and our visits to schools over the years. We also consider the opinions of independent college counselors, students and parents we hear from year-long.”
In its profile of the college, The Princeton Review said Lawrence “attracts bright, motivated, overachievers who are also creative and innovative.” The profile also quotes extensively from students surveyed for the book, who describe Lawrence as a “very tough school academically…but Lawrence teaches you the skills to communicate effectively with the world.” Others lauded Lawrence professors as “amazing, and that’s an understatement….each is excited about his or her field in a way that inspires you to go above and beyond the class assignments.”
Lawrence was cited among the top 20 institutions in the nation in two of the book’s student-survey categories: 17th in how popular college theatre productions are on campus and 17th in how accepting the campus is to the gay community.
The various ranking lists in the 2008 edition of “The Best 366 Colleges” are based on The Princeton Review’s survey of 120,000 students — approximately 325 per campus on average — attending the 366 colleges profiled in the book.
A college’s appearance on one of the 60 lists is a result of a high consensus among the surveyed students about that subject. The 80-question survey asked students to rate their schools on several topics and report on their campus experiences at them.
