Princeton Review names Roanoke one of best colleges in the U.S.

College also named one of best for business and computer science majors.

For the fourth consecutive year, The Princeton Review has named Roanoke College one of the best colleges in the United States.

Also, for the fourth year, The Princeton Review lists Roanoke among the nation's great schools for students who major in business/finance and computer science/computer engineering.

Roanoke is one of 379 colleges and universities listed in the 2015 edition of The Princeton Review's annual Best Colleges guidebook, its flagship college guide. "The Best 379 Colleges" includes detailed profiles of schools, with enrollment and admission statistics, rankings of top 20 schools in 62 categories and survey results from 130,000 students who attend the colleges.

Only about 9 percent of America's 4,146 colleges and universities are profiled in the book. It includes detailed profiles of the colleges with rating scores for all schools in eight categories, plus ranking lists of top 20 schools in the book in 62 categories based on The Princeton Review's surveys of 130,000 students attending the colleges.

Students surveyed for the guidebook described Roanoke College as a school that "guides students in exploring relevant studies and teaches them how to carefully evaluate important issues in society." The "student-centered" college has engaging professors and a campus life filled with "the perfect balance of comfort and challenge," students said.

"Both my professors and my peers have given me opportunities to succeed in ways I never dreamed I would want, let alone have," said one junior who was surveyed.

Students also cited "always available" professors who are "very engaging and invite a warm personal relationship" and desire "to not only act as a teacher, but as a mentor to their students."

Other survey highlights include high praise for Roanoke College's social activities, with recognition that working hard "is a good thing...The library is always full of students on Sundays.

"There is no surprise, for those who know Roanoke well, to receive the recognition by Princeton Review of our College and programs," said Michael E. Maxey, president of Roanoke College. "Roanoke College provides a superior education that helps good students become great citizens."

Dr. Anil Shende, professor of computer science at Roanoke, said faculty and staff are "thrilled that The Princeton Review, for the fourth year in a row, recognizes Roanoke College as one of the best schools for computer science majors. We take it as a celebration of our hands-on, challenging and rigorous curriculum, and where learning takes place in a close-knit community of faculty and students pursuing computer science."

Rob Franek, Princeton Review's senior vice president/publisher and author of "The Best 379 Colleges," said Roanoke College "offers outstanding academics, which is the chief reason we selected it for the book. We base our choices primarily on data we obtain in our annual surveys of administrators at these schools and at hundreds of other colleges."