Major college ranking publication touts quality academics, outstanding professors
CLAREMONT, Calif. (August 23, 2006) – Pitzer College provides an excellent educational environment that relies on world-class faculty and a high level of interaction in and out of the classroom, according to the Princeton Review. The New York-based education services company features Pitzer in the 2007 edition of its annual book, “The Best 361 Colleges.”
Only about 15 percent of the four-year colleges in the United States and two Canadian colleges are in the book. It has two-page profiles of the schools and student survey-based ranking lists of top 20 colleges in more than 60 categories.
“We chose schools for this book primarily for their outstanding academics,” said Robert Franek, 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 and survey year-long. Finally, we work to have a wide representation of colleges in the book by region, size, selectivity and character.”
In the profile on Pitzer, the Princeton Review describes the College as “a repository of individualism and unconventional education,” where professors “make it a point to be available to students.” The profile also draws extensively from the comments of students regarding Pitzer. “No one tells you what to do or how much to read; everyone just does it because they want to, because they enjoy the material, and because they want to learn,” a satisfied undergraduate noted.
The ranking lists in the new edition of the guide are based on the Princeton Review’s survey of 115,000 students (about 300 per campus on average) attending the 361 colleges in the book. Ranking lists report the top 20 schools in categories that range from best professors, administration and campus food to lists based on 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 361 in any single category.
Pitzer was ranked No. 3 on the list of colleges where Professors Get High Marks; No. 8 for Lots of Race/Class Interaction; and No. 9 for Most Politically Active Students.
