Saint Michael’s again a Princeton Review ‘Best 382’ college

Saint Michael’s College is one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review.

The education services company features the school in the new 2018 edition of its college guide, The Best 382 Colleges (Penguin Random House / Princeton Review), released Tuesday, Aug. 1. Only about fifteen percent of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges and two colleges outside the U.S. are profiled. Published annually since 1992, the popular guide has detailed profiles of the colleges with rating scores in eight categories.

“We chose Saint Michael’s College for this book because it offers outstanding academics,” said Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s Editor-in-Chief and author of The Best 382 Colleges, explaining that interviews with administrators and students drive the selections.

In its profile on Saint Michael’s, The Princeton Review praises it for its “small classes” [which] help ensure that ‘you are not just another number in a lecture hall … the college ‘really wants to help its students realize their full potential.”

Under a section titled “Students Say” on the topic of academics, the Guide states, “undergrads here speak effusively about their professors,” quoting several students:

– “Regardless of which class you’re in, you can tell that each professor’s #1 priority is that students succeed.”

– “Professors aren’t just professors. They’re lifelong teachers.”

– “If you’re genuine and true to who you are you’re bound to do well at St. Mike’s,” one student is quoted as saying about the College.

The guide also states that at Saint Michael’s, “Many tout the ‘strong academics’ and highlight the education, biology and religion departments in particular.”

The book also has ranking lists of top 20 schools in 62 categories. Saint Michael’s ranked No. 8 on the “Best College Radio Station” list. All of the ranking lists are based on The Princeton Review’s surveys of students attending the colleges. The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges from 1 to 382 in any category. Instead it uses students’ ratings of their schools to compile the 62 ranking lists of top 20 colleges in the book in various categories.

Other student comment about Saint Michael’s in the Guide, including from categories titled “Life” and “Student Body”:

– “My professors have … really helped me in beginning my career – setting up research studies in my field of interest, wiring incredible letters of recommendation for grad school, or networking to get me internships.”

– “Life at St. Mike’s is pretty chill … St. Mike’s students have their heads on straight when it comes to making decisions.”

– “Although St. Mike’s is a Catholic school, students ‘are all different in regards to religions, races, sexual orientations and genders.’”

– “Students enjoy the outdoors that his great state provides for us.”

The guide also notes that “Giving back to the community is a main theme in terms of the typical student here at St. Mike’s, as exemplified by the statement that ‘nearly all students participate in at least one service project during their four years here. Most students are very concerned about the environment and social justice.’”

Franek, the guide’s Editor-in chief, said selections are primarily based on surveys of administrators at several hundred four-year colleges. “We also visit dozens of colleges each year and give considerable weight to opinions of our staff and our 24-member National College Counselor Advisory Board. Most importantly, we look at valuable feedback we get from each school’s customers – our surveys of students attending them. We also keep a wide representation of colleges in the book by region, size, selectivity and character,” he said.

The lists in this edition are entirely based on The Princeton Review’s survey of 137,000 students (358 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 at them. Topics range from their assessments of their professors as teachers to opinions about their school’s career services.