New College of Florida Featured in Princeton Review’s 2012 ‘Best 376 Colleges’

August 3, 2011 — The Princeton Review has named New College of Florida one of the country’s best colleges for the 10th consecutive year in its newly published college guide, The Best 376 Colleges: 2012 Edition. New College is one of only 15 percent of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges profiled in the book and also regularly appears in The Princeton Review’s annual “100 Best Value Colleges.”

The Best 376 Colleges includes detailed college profiles with rating scores (60 to 99) for all schools in eight categories. New College received a rating of 94 for academics, 98 for interesting professors and 92 for financial aid. The rating scores are based primarily on institutional data collected during the 2010-11 academic year and/or student surveys.

“We commend New College of Florida for its outstanding academics, which is the primary criteria for our selection of schools for the book,” says Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s Senior VP / Publisher and author of The Best 376 Colleges. “Our choices are based on institutional data we collect about schools, our visits to schools over the years, feedback we gather from students attending the schools, and the opinions of our staff and our 28-member National College Counselor Advisory Board.”

The Princeton Review’s profile of New College reads: “New College isn’t your typical public school. The tiny student body allows admissions officers here to review each application carefully; expect a thorough going over of your essays, recommendations, and extracurricular activities. Iconoclastic students tend to thrive here, and the admissions staff knows that. Don’t be afraid to let your freak flag fly; it won’t get you in here if your academics aren’t top flight, but it certainly won’t hurt you either.”

The Best 376 Colleges also includes 62 ranking lists of the top 20 colleges in such categories as academics, administrative services, financial aid, campus life, the student body’s political leanings and LGBT community acceptance. These ranking lists are based on surveys of 122,000 students (average 325 per campus) during the 2010-11 and/or previous two school years.

Among the ranking lists in which New College was included for 2012 are the following:

— No. 3 for Most Politically Active Students
— No. 5 for Great Financial Aid
— No. 17 for Professors Get High Marks
— No. 8 for Gay Community Accepted
— No. 1 for Birkenstock-Wearing
— No. 1 for Dodgeball Targets (a reference to the lack of intercollegiate/intramural sports and Greek life on campus)

The Princeton Review is an education services company known for its test-prep courses, classes, tutoring, books and other student resources. The Princeton Review is headquartered in Framingham, Mass., with editorial offices in New York City. The Best 376 Colleges is available online at princetonreview.com and through Random House / Princeton Review Books ($22.99).

For more information, contact the New College Office of Public Affairs at 941-487-4153 or [email protected].