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TCNJ Makes Princeton Review’s Best Colleges List
The Princeton Review, which has no association with Princeton University, polls students from the nation’s top 361 colleges and universities on topics that range from “Most Beautiful Campus” to “Is it Food?”. The “Happiest Students” list is part of the “Quality of Life” category, where responses can place a school in “Nirvana” or “Purgatory.” Other categories include “Academics,” “Parties,” and “Politics.” The top 361 institutions are selected based on the opinions of students, parents, and educators at the schools, as well as the opinions of The Princeton Review’s staff members throughout the country. The schools’ cost, location, and size are then combined with those opinions to create rankings that highlight special characteristics of the colleges’ individual cultures. Since the Review feels that academics, although important, are not the only factor in making a college decision, they do not offer a ranking for best overall school. Although The Princeton Review takes a lighter approach to college rankings than the highly statistical U.S. News and World Report, The New York Times admits that the ranking is noteworthy. TCNJ “more than just edged out” Princeton University, claimed a Times’ August 28, 2005, article titled “That Creeping Ivy Isn’t Everything.” TCNJ is also ranked by U.S News as the top public institution and the fourth overall master’s college in the northern region of the country. |
This month, The College of New Jersey ranked 6th on The Princeton Review’s “Happiest Students” list, edging out the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (#8), Princeton University (#16), and Yale University (#18), among others. 