Princeton Review 2023 Guide Gives TAC Top Ratings

Thomas Aquinas College still provides one of the best undergraduate educations in the country, according to The Princeton Review.

“We salute Thomas Aquinas College for its outstanding academics and its many other impressive offerings,” says Rob Franek, The Princeton Review’s editor-in-chief and lead author of its 2023 guide, The Best 388 Colleges. “We’re delighted to recommend it as an ideal choice for students searching for their ‘best-fit’ college.”

The College, Mr. Franek notes, “is one of the outstanding institutions we profile in this, the 31st  edition of our flagship college guide,” which  “features only about 14 percent of America’s four-year colleges.” 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. 

The guide rates colleges in key aspects on a scale from 1-99, and Thomas Aquinas College earned high marks across the gamut of categories, notably 91 for academics, 93 for quality of life, and 96 for financial aid. Moreover, members of the faculty earned scores of 97 and 98 for being “interesting” and “accessible,” respectively.

In addition to these general criteria, the guide also includes 50 lists of “Top 25” colleges based on a survey it conducted of 138,000 students nationwide. Extrapolations from that survey again placed the College high on those lists:

• #1 – Most Religious Students
• #3 – Their Students Love Their College
• #4 – Best Classroom Experience
• #6 – Most Beautiful Campus
• #7 – Great Financial Aid
• #8 – Happiest Students
• #9 – Most Accessible Professors

A profile accompanying these survey results quotes extensively from the College’s students, who offered such comments as:

• Academics are “difficult, mind blowing, extremely enjoyable, and intensely interesting.”
• The Great Books curriculum focuses students on “grappling with the greatest thinkers directly instead of … through a secondary text.”
• Through the Discussion Method, students “find the truth themselves,” especially about “core ideas of the highest nature such as relativity, time, space, and being.”
• Members of the teaching faculty are “always accessible outside of their class hours” and are “strong role models and mentors.”
• The Catholic faith is dear to the students, many of whom “attend Mass daily.”
• The College offers “culture of casual kindness,” where students are “friendly and comfortable with each other” and “always willing to have a good conversation.”

“We are pleased that, once again, The Princeton Review has featured Thomas Aquinas College in its annual guide of the country’s best colleges,” says President Paul J. O’Reilly. “We find the high scores for our academic and financial aid programs especially gratifying. Our goal has always been to provide the best education at the most affordable price, and The Princeton Review’s latest profile strongly suggests that we are succeeding.”