USU named a Best Western College
USU was named a Best Western College by the Princeton Review in its Best Colleges: Region by Region list, along with 119 other schools.
Other Utah schools that made the cut were Brigham Young University, the University of Utah, Southern Utah University, Weber State University and Westminster College.
“When you are picked as one of the best colleges in a region, it’s quite an honor,” Harriet Brand, the director of public relations at the Princeton Review, said.
The annual review is influential for prospective students choosing schools, Brand said.
“I would guess half of all students use the Princeton Review Web site, books and courses to find, get into and pay for college,” she said.
Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s vice president of publishing, said colleges are ranked with consideration to many factors.
“We commend all of the schools we name this year as our ‘regional best’ colleges primarily for their excellent academic programs,” he said. “We selected them based on institutional data we collected from several hundred schools in each region, our visits to schools over the years, and the opinions of independent and high school-based college advisers whose recommendations we invite. We also take into account what each school’s customers – their students – report to us about their campus experiences at their schools on our 80-question student survey. Finally, we work to have our annual roster of ‘regional best’ colleges present a range of institutions in each region that varies by size, selectivity, character and locale.”
Utah State’s profile at www.princetonreview.com quotes USU students saying Logan is “an incredibly beautiful and inspiring place to live and learn,” and that “Utah State University is a large, affordable, research-oriented school that offers over 200 majors.” Students also had positive comments about professors and administrators.
“The academic experience is super,” the Web site quotes one students saying. Another student stated that “the administration’s main focus is on the students and that is apparent from the amount of effort that they put toward student services and functions.”
Student surveys are vital because they decide which schools make the list and which don’t. More than 120,000 surveys are conducted, asking more than 80 questions about different aspects of school and student life. The Princeton Review has been conducting surveys since 1992, and last year 95 percent of those surveys were done online at http://survey.review.com.
The Princeton Review is a company designed to prepare students for higher education. It publishes more than 200 books and guidebooks that offer test preparation for tests ranging from the SAT to the GRE, helps students find a college that matches their interest, and offers assessments for students and teachers in elementary and high school. The Princeton Review is not associated with Princeton University. According to the Princeton Review’s Web site, its goal is simple: to identify some of the colleges and universities in each region that stand out.
-kandice.crompton@aggiemail.usu.edu