Press release from UNC Asheville:
UNC Asheville is once again featured as one of The Princeton Review’s best colleges. In the 2019 edition of “The Best 384 Colleges,” UNC Asheville is included in the comprehensive list for “Best Quality of Life.”
“We picked the 384 ‘best’ colleges for our book primarily for their outstanding academics; we highly recommend each one,” said Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s editor-in-chief and the book’s lead author. “However, we know applicants need far more than an academic rating or ranking to find the college that will be best for them. We created our 62 ranking lists to help narrow that search. They are based entirely on data we gather beyond academics that gives insight into what the schools’ enrolled students say about their professors, administrators, school services, campus culture, and student life. In the end, it’s all about the fit.”
“Our students speak volumes about the quality of their experience at UNC Asheville, and we thank the faculty, staff, community members and neighbors for making our campus a welcoming learning environment. From our classrooms and highly ranked academics to our newly renovated Highsmith Student Union and state-of-the-art residence halls, UNC Asheville is a place where students can feel at home,” said Bill Haggard, UNC Asheville vice chancellor for student affairs.
Students supplied the details through an 84-question survey, with those responses in most agreement or disagreement accounting for the resulting lists. The 2018 edition marks the second subsequent year that UNC Asheville received accolades along with the City of Asheville for the “Town-Gown Relations are Great” category, with opportunities for research, service, and hands-on experience mentioned by students.
Their agreement or disagreement with questions about religion, as well as sexual orientation and gender identity/expression also rank UNC Asheville on the “Least Religious Students” and “LGBTQ-Friendly” lists.
Lengthier responses are quoted the guide, and UNC Asheville students give credit to the people and place they’ve connected to for their college home:
One student says, ‘because western North Carolina has such rich history, biodiversity, and social issues, it attracts wonderful and passionate intellectuals, and as a result, UNCA has an exceptional team of professors.’
Another explains, “Professors are ‘some of the best in their respective fields’ and ‘have time to invest interest in your individual advancement—not only in the course, but in your life…may come to you with job, internship or volunteer opportunities.’
The ‘town and the mountains make living here an exceptional experience,’ says another student. Another praises the ‘vibrancy of Asheville’ as a music student, where it ‘was crucial’ to be ‘in a rich music and art scene.’
All of it adds up to the overall Quality of Life accolade, which is based on students’ answers to several survey questions, including how they rate the beauty, safety and location of their campus, their campus residence halls and food, their ease in getting around the campus and in dealing with the administration, the friendliness of fellow students and interactions among different student types on campus and their overall happiness.
One of The Princeton Review’s most popular guides, “The Best 384 Colleges” rankings are based on surveys of 138,000 students at 384 top colleges that includes a wide representation by region, size, selectivity and character. Published annually since 1992, the book has detailed profiles of the colleges with rating scores in eight categories as well as ranking lists of top 20 schools in 62 categories. For more information on the rankings and methodology visit www.princetonreview.com/ college-rankings/how-it-works.
UNC Asheville also garners a top spot in The Princeton Review’s “Colleges that Pay You Back,” released earlier this year, coming in at No. 2 in the “Making an Impact” category.
For more information about UNC Asheville, including ways to make an impact and ways to apply, visit unca.edu.
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