If you’re in high school and looking ahead to college, you probably already know all about U.S. News & World Report’s annual “America’s Best Colleges,” which ranks colleges and universities around the country. These rankings can give you a great place to start, but if your college search revolves entirely around this list, you’re throwing yourself at the mercy of only one corporation’s definition of “best.”
The “best” school for a potential geneticist may have a stellar biosciences faculty but no intramural sports—if you’re an aspiring genetic engineer who unwinds with regular competitive basketball games, you might want to ask yourself if you would be happy there for four or more years.
If rankings are important to you in making your college decision, consider expanding your search to include other “best” lists that go beyond just academics, that might be able to give you a sense of the campus, the town, the personality of the students, and of whether or not you’ll fit in and enjoy your life there.
The Princeton Review Best Colleges: Students Rate Their Own Campuses
Find out what current students think about their own schools and get various bests (and worsts) for every personality type with The Princeton Review’s Best 366 Colleges. The 2008 edition of The Princeton Review’s annual rankings surveys more than 120,000 students on 366 campuses.
You won’t find any “top schools” overall here. As The Princeton Review explains in one of their answers to an FAQ, “We don’t believe that any one school is the best overall. … Some colleges in our book may be ideal for some students but wrong for others, depending on their interests and needs.”
Instead, the survey results serve up the top 20 schools in each of 62 categories like:
- Best Campus Food: Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA)
- Is It Food?: U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, NY)
- Dorms Like Palaces: Smith College (Northampton, MA)
- Dorms Like Dungeons: U.S. Coast Guard Academy (New London, CT)
- Best Classroom Experience: Reed College (Portland, OR)
- Most Long Lines and Red Tape: Tuskegee University (Tuskegee, AL)
- Biggest Frat & Sorority Scene: DePauw University (Greencastle, IN)
- Students Most Nostalgic for Ronald Reagan: Warren Wilson College (Asheville, NC)
- Students Most Nostalgic for Bill Clinton: Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, CA)
- Most Diverse Student Body: Temple University (Philadelphia)
- Most Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians: Hampshire College (Amherst, MA)
- Best College Radio Station: St. Bonaventure University (St. Bonaventure, NY)
- Where Intercollegiate Sports Are Unpopular or Nonexistent: New College of Florida (Sarasota, FL)
- Where Students Pack the Stadiums: University of Maryland (College Park, MD)
You can find the complete Princeton Review student rankings free online, or buy a copy of the book (list price $21.95). In addition to the rankings and two-page profiles on each of the 366 schools, the book version has a new section with lists of “Great Colleges for 15 of the Most Popular College Majors.”
Other Online Resources and Rankings
For more student rankings and other “best” categories, check out these sites:
- Campus Dirt’s Top Ten Lists: Toughest Classes, Easiest Freshman Parking, Most “Wired” Campus, Most Options for Late-Night Food, Where Lectures Are Related to the “Real World,” …
- Students Review: University & College Rankings: Top Engineering Schools, Top Schools for Smart People, Top Creative Schools, Top Ivies, Biggest Reputation, …
- College Rankings by College Prowler: Grades schools A through F on things like parking, nightlife, weather, guys, girls, campus strictness, and local atmosphere
- The Templeton Guide to Colleges That Encourage Character Development: 405 exemplary programs in 10 categories like Volunteer Service, Academic Honesty, Spiritual Growth, and Civic Education
First-Hand Accounts and Campus Tours
Besides doing your reading and online research, ask around. Your friends may know former students who can give you a first-hand opinion of the school you’re interested in.
One of the best ways to get a feel for a campus and the student life is to visit. If you can’t afford the travel costs to check out the campus for yourself, try a virtual campus visit at CampusTours.com or College-Visits.com to get a better feel for what your college life might actually be like once you’re on campus.