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8/3/09

Princeton Review Cites St. Lawrence University In 'Best Colleges' Book

CANTON - The Princeton Review has rated St. Lawrence University as one of the nation's best institutions for undergraduate education.

The Review's 2010 edition of The Best 371 Colleges has just been published, and includes only 15 percent of the nation's 2,500 four-year colleges and universities.

The rankings are based on collected data, student feedback, school visits and the opinions of college counselors, students and parents. Each school is ranked in eight categories: admissions selectivity, quality of life, financial aid and environmental policies and practices.

St. Lawrence got glowing reviews from students surveyed, especially in academics and quality of life on campus. The book states, for example, "Students at St. Lawrence love their professors," and "students rave about small class sizes." One student's quote states, "All of my professors have been extremely accessible and willing to help out if I've ever had questions. The quality of the professors is very high."

On campus life, it states, "Theme houses receive high marks from their residents and the student who come to the events," and "there are multitudes of clubs that provide a social scene for all students, no matter their interests." And celebrating the University's North Country location, students describe "people and groups who carpool up to Whiteface in Lake Placid and go downhill skiing. During the warm months there is always something going on on the quad, and many people go on trips to the nearby Adirondack Mountains for hiking and other outdoor activities."

"The information collected and reported by The Princeton Review is consistent with data we have collected ourselves for the National Survey of Student Engagement," Vice President and Dean of Student Life Joseph A. Tolliver said. "We're pleased that students recognize the high quality of academic and campus life at St. Lawrence."

Robert Franek, Princeton Review's vice president for publishing and author of The Best 371 Colleges, said "We commend St. Lawrence for its outstanding academics, which is the primary criteria for our choice of schools for the book. We also work to keep a wide representation of colleges in the book by region, size, selectivity and character. We make our choices based on institutional data we gather about schools, feedback from students attending them, and input from our staff members, who visit hundreds of colleges a year. We also value the opinions and suggestions of our 23-member National College Counselor Advisory Board, and independent college counselors we hear from yearlong."

The Best 371 Colleges is the 18th edition of The Princeton Review's annual "best colleges" book.

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