Latest College Rankings List The Greenest

Princeton Review Adds The Category To Its Annual Look At Schools Nationwide, Just Published

(CBS)  Princeton Review is out with its latest rankings of colleges nationwide, in all sorts of categories -- from the best classroom experience to the best party schools.

A new one -- the greenest colleges.

The overall look is called "The Best 368 Colleges -- 2009 Edition," and Princeton Review Vice President of Publishing Robert Franek stopped by The Early Show Tuesday to talk about it.

Princeton Review has published such lists every year since 1992, to help high school students select the schools that are best for them.

Franek points out that college advisers can only get students so far: The national ratio is one-counselor-to-every-400 students. With statistics like that, it's often up to the students to educate themselves on the sorts of colleges they're looking for, and the schools that best match their criteria.

It's not easy to rank as diverse a range of schools as The Naval Academy, Brigham Young, University of Florida and Bryn Mawr. How does Princeton Review do it? To start with, says Franek, it looks at quantitative data. What percentage of applicants is selected? How many are in and out of state? What's the average class size? What's the statistical average of SAT scores for incoming freshman?

While those stats are important, they DON'T really represent a school, or its personality. For that, Princeton Review turns to the students. It surveyed more than 120,000 students via e-mail (more than 80 questions for 62 separate ranking categories). And even then, Princeton Review admits, its guide isn't complete: This book only surveys 15 percent of the four year colleges in the U.S.

Franek says too many students and their parents put emphasis on too few schools, embarking on their search with a narrow vision of college admissions -- and the Princeton guide is tries to change that. He says the ideal way to use this book is to read the reviews of schools that might interest you and use them to flesh out your college visits. Use the reviews to write out some educated and interesting interview questions that will impress admissions officers. And remember, college admissions are often still a crapshoot: You could be the best flute player in all of the Midwest, but if the college of your choice already has an orchestra full of flute players, you could be left wanting.

Franek stresses that students and their families should keep in mind that there isn't just one school that's a good fit. There could be many. The book points applicants to schools similar to the ones they think they may be interested in. For instance, if you like Penn State, perhaps you should check out the University of Virginia, Harvard, Emory, Cornell or Lehigh. Leave all your options open.

And the main thing is: Try to make your search fun:

Some of the lists:

Green Honor Roll (in alphabetical order)

Arizona State University at the Tempe campus
Bates College (Lewiston, ME)
Binghamton University (State Univ. of New York at Binghamton)
College of the Atlantic (Bar Harbor, ME)
Emory University (Atlanta, GA)
Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
Harvard College (Cambridge, MA)
University of New Hampshire (Durham, NH)
University of Oregon (Eugene, OR)
University of Washington (Seattle, WA)
Yale University (New Haven, CT)

Best Classroom Experience

1. Stanford University
2. Reed College
3. Pomona College
4. Wabash College
5. Mount Holyoke College
6. Wellesley College
7. United States Military Academy
8. Middlebury College
9. Whitman College
10 Williams College

Happiest Students

1. Clemson University
2. Brown University
3. Princeton University
4. Claremont McKenna College
5. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
6. Stanford University
7. University of Dayton
8. Bowdoin College
9. The College of New Jersey
10 Tulane University

Party Schools

1. University of Florida
2. University of Mississippi
3. Penn State-University Park
4. West Virginia University
5. Ohio University-Athens
6. Randolph-Macon College
7. University of Georgia
8. The University of Texas at Austin
9. University of California-Santa Barbara
10 Florida State University

Students Happy with Financial Aid

1. Princeton University
2. Stanford University
3. Pomona College
4. Harvard College
5. New College of Florida
6. Thomas Aquinas College
7. Beloit College
8. College of the Atlantic
9. Wabash College
10 Claremont McKenna College

Best Career/Job Placement Opportunities

1. Northeastern University
2. Claremont McKenna College
3. Wabash College
4. University of Texas-Austin
5. Penn State-University Park
6. Sweet Briar College
7. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
8. Clemson University
9. University of Virginia
10. Barnard College

Diverse Student Population

1. City University of New York-Baruch College
2. University of Maryland, Baltimore County
3. City University of New York-Brooklyn College
4. University of Alabama at Birmingham
5. Temple University

[daysrnumbrd]

There is obviously a disconnect in this survey between the "happiest students" and the "party schools".

What makes no sense is that none of the "party schools" are in the "happiest students" category!

[daysrnumbrd]

Yes, I always look for a college... not for one that has the best facilities or faculty...

...but one that takes an active role in recycling ALL the empty beer cans on campus! Now that''s important!

(not)

[Meg003]

Posted by Macmanus1

Lighten up people. It was just a joke. I''m pretty sure. Don''t you think?

If not, I''ll check his spelling if he''ll fix my air conditioner.

[u2canb1]

Once again it looks like my almer matter was forgotten.
Why it doesn''''t make the top ten list is everybody''''s guest. I don''''t care if your brown, yellow, caulkasin,indian, jewish or baptist, Eastfield College will always be the greatest college to me.
Posted by Macmanus1

Mac, no wonder you loved your "college" so much, you never attended any classes...and clearly, you never paid much attention in school at ANY point in your life! LOL, you are one scary moron dude.

[jcs914]

EAllum, I believe you mean ''disgrace,'' and he isn''t alone on that list...

[eallum]

McManus 1
You are a desgrace to Eastfeild.

[eallum]

McManus 1
You are a desgrace to Eastfeild.

[pcuff-2009]

I''m also surprised by the rankings. Stanford makes it on many lists, and it is a good school. I''m currently at Stanford for grad school, and I went to Brigham Young University as an undergrad. I have to wonder what kinds of questions you have to ask students in order to reach the conclusion that Stanford students are happier than BYU students. I''ve had several Stanford undergrads complain to me about the dull social life, and almost everyone I knew at BYU was in love with the atmosphere there. Also, questions about financial aid are tricky. I would assume that many of the Stanford undergrads have rich parents. BYU on the other hand is so highly subsidiesed by the LDS church that individual financial aid isn''t necessary in general. Yet, if you ask the wrong questions you will decide that BYU does a poor job with financial aid.

[jcs914]

Macmanus1,
Your comments below should be enough to revoke the accreditation of Eastfield college, but we all hear you on the free parking.

[macmanus1-2009]

Once again it looks like my almer matter was forgotten, Eastfield College. I can''t understand these ranking systems. They must be highly objective and skewed. I got my associates degree from Eastfield in HVAC heating and colling repair with a minor in Elizabethan poetry. It''s a fine institution with daversity,large classrooms and free parking. You want to pick a scool that''s going to leave your kid on top of everyone he knows. That''s Eastfield. It''s kind of a place that builds character, indictment and restitution. Why it doesn''t make the top ten list is everybody''s guest. I don''t care if your brown, yellow, caulkasin,indian, jewish or baptist, Eastfield College will always be the greatest college to me.

[meanbiker]

you can say that again..