The Princeton Review Ranks Assumption One of the “Best 381 Colleges” & “Best Regional Colleges”
For the third consecutive year, Assumption is included in the 2017 edition of The Princeton Review’s annual “Best 381 Colleges” publication. The nationally recognized education services company also ranked Assumption one of the “Best Regional Colleges” for the Northeast region.
“Assumption’s outstanding academics are the chief reason we chose it for this book and we strongly recommend it to applicants,” says Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s Senior VP-Publisher and author of “The Best 381 Colleges.” “We make our selections primarily based on data we collect through our annual surveys of administrators at several hundred four-year colleges. Additionally, we give considerable weight to observations from our school visits, opinions of our staff and our 24-member National College Counselor Advisory Board, and an unparalleled amount of feedback we get from our surveys of students attending these schools. We also keep a wide representation of colleges in the book by region, size, selectivity and character.”
Assumption President Dr. Francesco C. Cesareo, Ph.D., noted the recognition of the institution’s strong academic programs.
“Assumption strives to foster well-rounded, creative, intelligent and caring young individuals to be successful individuals who can make a positive impact on and contribution to society,” said President Cesareo. “The Assumption community is proud of yet another recognition of our strong academics and commitment to forming well-rounded individuals who use the knowledge they have gained at Assumption to serve those in the greatest of need, not only by a nationally recognized education company like The Princeton Review, but more importantly, by our students.”
The Princeton Review bases its rankings on students’ ratings of their schools which also determines inclusion in the book. The lists in the 2017 edition are entirely based on The Princeton Review’s survey of 143,000 students (about 375 per campus, on average) attending the colleges. The 80-question survey asks students to rate their schools on several topics and report on their campus experiences. Topics range from assessments of professors as teachers to opinions about their school’s library, career services, and campus life.
In this year’s profile on Assumption, The Princeton Review quotes students who praised the institution as an institution that is a “tight knit, faith-based community where everyone is part of a family” and as a small school that focuses on “educating aware and prospective young adults to become active and productive members of society while maintaining human core values” through “service, meaningful discussions, and liberal arts classes.” Overall, Assumption students rated Assumption a “very welcoming and inclusive institution” that “focuses on giving its student every resource possible to help them succeed and be happy.”
The Princeton Review also included student responses with regard to the faculty: “The ‘beyond helpful’ professors here are ‘engaging,’ ‘approachable,’ and ‘have a diversity of teaching styles,’ as well as being ‘willing to talk to you whenever you need it and [caring] about your well-being.’ They ‘bring their personal experiences into the classroom’ to make studies ‘interesting and enjoyable,’ and the application of the liberal arts curriculum to small classes means that students ‘receive a greater impact’ from their learning.”
Focusing on student life, The Princeton Review remarked that, according to students “there is a great sense of belonging” and “Assumption does a great job of getting people involved one way or another.” Students lauded Assumption’s “beautiful, diverse and secured campus” and noted that “a large majority go to the events the campus activities board puts on, adding that those who take advantage of campus activities are “very invested in academics, sports, extracurriculars, and social experiences.”
For more information on Assumption, visit www.assumption.edu.