July 31, 2017
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Kudos Include “Best Classroom Experience”
& “Most Religious Students”

 

Thomas Aquinas College provides one of the best undergraduate educations in the country, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company features the College in the 2018 edition of its annual guide, The Best 382 Colleges. Only about 15 percent of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges are profiled in the publication, The Princeton Review’s flagship college guide. Thomas Aquinas College is one of only three Catholic schools recommended by the Cardinal Newman Society to make The Princeton Review’s “Best Colleges” list. 

Among the ratings for Thomas Aquinas College are scores of 95 for academics, 94 for quality of life, and 99 for financial aid. In this scoring system, 99 is the best possible score. The Princeton Review also ranked the College as No. 6 on its list of just 10 schools nationwide named to its “Financial Aid Honor Roll.” 

“We chose Thomas Aquinas College for this book because it offers outstanding academics,” says Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s editor-in-chief and author of The Best 382 Colleges. “Our selections are primarily based on our 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 are pleased that, once again, The Princeton Review has featured Thomas Aquinas College in its annual guide,” says the College’s president, Dr. Michael F. McLean. “Of particular note are the high scores we received for our academic and financial aid programs, and for our students’ ‘quality of life.’ Our goal has always been to provide the best education at the most affordable price, and The Princeton Review profile offers some strong evidence that we are succeeding.”

In its profile of Thomas Aquinas College, The Princeton Review quotes extensively from students at the College who were surveyed for the book. Among their comments:

  • Thomas Aquinas College is a school that “takes learning seriously for its own sake, not just as preparation for a job.”
  • The College has “a strong Catholic identity” and “a rigorous curriculum” which teaches students to “read and think critically.”
  • The use of the Discussion Method in classrooms “better facilitates learning.”
  • The College offers a “holistic education” that is “demanding on every level,” in “an atmosphere of trust and faith that makes it easier to study, to live, and to grow.”
  • Members of the teaching faculty “have a passion for intellectual formation,” are “always ready to help their students,” and “lead you to truth without forcing it on you.”
  • “You get all different kinds of people here — but one thing they have in common is a desire to search for the truth.”

The guide also reports 62 ranking lists of “Top 20” colleges in various categories, based on The Princeton Review’s survey of 137,000 students nationwide. Topics range from students’ assessments of their professors to opinions about the quality of financial aid and campus food. Among the “Top 20” ranking lists on which Thomas Aquinas College appears are:

  • No. 1 for “Most Religious Students”
  • No. 6 for “Great Financial Aid”
  • No. 8 for “Best Classroom Experience”
  • No. 15 for “Lots of Race/Class Interaction”

Finally, in a “Survey Says” sidebar in the guide’s profile of the College, The Princeton Review lists some sentiments that were frequently expressed by the Thomas Aquinas College students surveyed for the book. The list includes:

  • Students are happy
  • Classroom facilities are great
  • Class discussions encouraged
  • Great financial aid
  • No one cheats
  • Students are friendly
  • Diverse student types interact on campus
  • Students are very religious
  • Students get along with local community
  • Dorms are like palaces
  • Easy to get around campus