Roanoke College Recognized in Princeton Review’s ‘Best 390 Colleges’

Roanoke College once again has landed on the Princeton Review’s list of the best colleges in the United States, placing it in the top 13% of approximately 3,000 colleges and universities nationwide. 

Along with the general best colleges accolade in "The Best 390 Colleges,” Roanoke was named a Great School for Business/Finance Majors and a Great School for Psychology Majors, and it made the list for Best Athletic Facilities and Great Schools for Town-Gown Relations.  

"We salute Roanoke College for its outstanding academics and many other impressive offerings,” said Rob Franek, editor-in-chief of The Princeton Review and lead author of “The Best 390 Colleges.” “We recommend it as an ideal choice for students searching for their ‘best-fit’ college.”  

To select the best schools, The Princeton Review gathers both quantitative and qualitative data, including anonymous surveys with 168,000 college students around the country and conversations with administrators, students, parents and high school counselors. The book is intended to be one of several tools prospective students can use to choose the best fit college for them.  

In The Princeton Review’s profile of Roanoke College, it recognized the school’s “unique core curriculum,” student-faculty relationships and strong campus community. The profile also said, “students value the flexibility of an academic format that allows them ‘to find their purpose on campus and explore several different fields of interest at once’.” 

Regarding Roanoke’s admissions practices, it said, “each part of a student’s application to Roanoke is important, as the College takes a holistic approach to admission, considering the whole student, not just a string of numbers.” 

Students who took the Princeton Review survey remarked about campus activities such as Friday on the Quad and Theology on Tap, clubs such as Toy Like Me and the campus’ welcoming community.  

"The school does an amazing job of emphasizing the ‘family’ aspect of what it means to be a Maroon,” one student reported, while “The overall sentiment,” according to the profile, “is that ‘the students are caring, determined and outgoing.’”  

The Princeton Review has published its list of the best colleges annually since 1992, and Roanoke College has appeared on the list each year since the 2012 edition.