The Princeton Review selects VWC for inclusion in its guide "The Best 380 Colleges: 2016 Edition"
News Release | August 6, 2015
Virginia Wesleyan College is one of the nation's best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company features VWC in the new 2016 edition of its flagship guide, "The Best 380 Colleges," released Aug. 4.
Only about 15 percent of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges and only four colleges outside the U.S. are profiled in the book, which is one of The Princeton Review's most popular guides. It includes detailed profiles of the colleges, with rating scores for all schools in eight categories based on The Princeton Review's surveys of students attending the colleges.
"Virginia Wesleyan College's outstanding academics are the chief reason we chose it for this book and we strongly recommend it to applicants," says Robert Franek, The Princeton Review's senior vice president and publisher and author of The Best 380 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 23-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."
In its profile on Virginia Wesleyan, The Princeton Review praises VWC for its "close-knit community" and quotes extensively from VWC students surveyed for the book. Among their comments, students cite “lifelong connections” with professors who “genuinely care about their students and are approachable outside the classroom.” Students also commented on the community’s willingness to “get involved,” particularly with volunteering, athletics and Greek Life.
The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges academically or from 1 to 380 in any category. The list is entirely based on The Princeton Review's survey of 136,000 students (about 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 assessments of their professors to opinions about their school's library, career services, and student body's political leanings. The Princeton Review explains the basis for each ranking list on its website.
Virginia Wesleyan is also featured in the 2015 edition of The Princeton Review Guide to 353 Green Colleges.