The new 2009 edition of The Princeton Review's Best 368 Colleges ranks Claremont McKenna College fourth among the top schools with the happiest students, with Clemson University finishing first and Brown and Princeton universities placing second and third, respectively.
The College also ranks second this year in the category of Best Career/Job Placement Services, finishing just behind first-ranked Northeastern University. Other high marks earned by CMC in the just-released rankings guide include School Runs Like Butter (5th), Best Quality of Life (5th), Students Happy with Financial Aid (10th), and Most Accessible Professors (11th).
Ranking lists in the book report the top 20 colleges in these and more than 50 other categories, including political leanings, race/class relations, social scenes, and sports interests. New this year is a Green Rating based on an institution's environmentally related practices, policies and course offerings.
The 2009 rankings report that CMCers practically gushed when speaking about their "pragmatic" liberal arts college. "There is no better place to come to college," one sophomore noted. Others candidly reported that CMC's campus is "constantly abuzz with activity," and that because of the numerous event choices around the Claremont campuses"you constantly have to sacrifice one for another."
Participants also rated CMC high in the areas of menu options, scenery, and housing. The food at CMC is "good and healthy, dorms are big and spacious, and the campus is always green and sunny," a respondent noted.
In fact, this year's rankings placed Claremont McKenna 11th in the category of Dorms Like Palaces, and 15th in Best Campus Food.
The 2009 edition of Best 368 Colleges surveyed 120,000 students at 368 top colleges. Instead of ranking schools academically, 1 to 368, the guide tallies ranking lists in 62 categories based on what students at the schools report. Ninety-five percent of the surveys were completed online, with the remaining 5 percent paper surveys completed on campuses. The 80-question survey asks students about their college's academics, administration, campus life, student body and themselves.
The Princeton Review also posts the book's ranking lists on its Web site: www.PrincetonReview.com, at which users can read FAQs about the book.