MACON — For the seventh consecutive year, The Princeton Review has named Mercer University to its list of America’s best colleges in the 2010 edition of the book, “Best 371 Colleges.” Only about 15 percent of the four-year colleges in America and two Canadian colleges were chosen for the book.
In its two-page profile on Mercer, The Princeton Review reports that Mercer is a “school on the rise” and that Mercer’s strong majors and pre-professional programs “are supported by a solid liberal arts curriculum grounded in the classics.” The profile goes on to quote extensively from Mercer students that The Princeton Review surveyed for the book. Among their comments on the University are: “The professors and staff offer exceptional outreach to students, and the relationship between professors and students is unparalleled,” and Mercer creates “the perfect college experience complete with friendly professors, helpful staff, easy accessibility and student activities to maintain interest.”
“We commend Mercer for its outstanding academics, which is the primary criteria for our choice of schools for the book,” said Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s vice president of publishing and author of the book. “We also work to keep a wide representation of colleges in the book by region, size, selectivity and character. We make our choices based on institutional data we gather about schools, feedback from students attending them and input from our staff who visit hundreds of colleges a year. We also value the opinions and suggestions of our 23-member National College Counselor Advisory Board, and independent college counselors we hear from yearlong.”
The school profiles in “The Best 371 Colleges” also have school ratings in eight categories. The ratings are numerical scores on a scale of 60 to 99 based largely on school-reported data collected during the 2008-09 academic year. Rating categories include Admissions Selectivity, Financial Aid, Fire Safety, and a Green rating that The Princeton Review developed in partnership with ecoAmerica, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental organization. The Green rating is based on several criteria concerning environmental policies and practices reported by the colleges to The Princeton Review.
In a “Survey Says…” sidebar in the book’s profile on Mercer, The Princeton Review lists topics that Mercer students surveyed for the book were most in agreement about. The list includes: “low cost of living,” “(almost) no one smokes,” very little drug use” and “athletic facilities are great.”
The Princeton Review (www.PrincetonReview.com) is a New York-based company known for its test preparation, education and college admission services. It is not affiliated with Princeton University, and it is not a magazine.
About Mercer University
Founded in 1833, Mercer University is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education. The University has approximately 7,600 students; 11 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing and continuing and professional studies; major campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah; three regional academic centers across the state; a university press; two teaching hospitals — Memorial University Medical Center and the Medical Center of Central Georgia; educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta; an engineering research center in Warner Robins; a performing arts center in Macon; and a NCAA Division I athletic program. For more information, visit www.mercer.edu.
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