UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS RANKED HIGH BY PRINCETON REVIEW

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - For the first time, the University of Arkansas has been selected for inclusion in the Princeton Review’s The Best 331 Colleges—2000 edition. What’s more, the UofA was given the third highest academic rating in the Southeastern Conference (SEC)—and No. 1 in the SEC’s Western Division.

"Arkansans everywhere can take pride in the rising academic reputation of the University of Arkansas, as selection by the Princeton Review suggests," said Chancellor John A. White. "This is an important third-party testament to the quality of our students, faculty and staff and the excellent academic environment they have created."

Selection for the college guidebook is based upon a survey of 59,000 students nationwide anonymously rating their school’s faculty, workload, social life, sports, and more. Between 175 and 200 students are surveyed at each institution. Other criteria include admissions requirements and institutional data about class size, the student/faculty ratio, and the percentage of professors teaching undergraduate classes.

The University of Arkansas’s academic rating was 78, which was topped only by Vanderbilt and Florida and tied with the University of Mississippi for third in the SEC.

The academic quality ratings were:

1. Vanderbilt, 87
2. Florida, 82
3. ARKANSAS, 78
3. Ole Miss, 78
5. Georgia, 75
6. Kentucky, 74
7. LSU, 72
8. Auburn, 71
8. Alabama, 71
8. Tennessee, 71
11. South Carolina, 70
12. Mississippi State (not included)

For the SEC’s Western Division, the guidebook’s academic ratings look like this:

1. ARKANSAS, 78
1. Ole Miss, 78
3. LSU, 72
4. Auburn, 71
5. Alabama, 71
6. Mississippi State (not included)

The Princeton Review’s narrative opens by saying, "The flagship campus of the state university system, University of Arkansas—Fayetteville prides itself as a research institute that also provides quality education to undergraduates."

Student comments are sprinkled liberally throughout:

"Surprisingly, U of A has kept me academically challenged," says one. "Coming in I assumed this was a 'party school,’ but all of my teachers have been really superb and my academic adviser has been great."

Says another: "The professors I’ve had have been awesome! They’re always willing to go out of their way to help students out."

The guidebook also notes that "Students have nothing but praise for their hometown of Fayetteville."

The Princeton Review’s The Best Colleges has been published annually since 1992. The latest edition appeared in bookstores this week.

This year, the Princeton Review added 32 institutions to the new edition and deleted 12 others. Fewer than 10 percent of America’s 3,500 colleges and universities are in it.

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