'Great Classroom Experience' Helps Put Champlain College on Princeton Review's 2012 'Best Colleges' List

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Champlain College, Burlington, VT

• Princeton Review book cover
• David Finney, President of Champlain College

BURLINGTON, VT (08/02/2011)(readMedia)-- (BURLINGTON, Vt., Aug. 2, 2011) -- Champlain College is one of the country's best institutions for undergraduate education, receiving high marks for its classroom experience for students, quality of life and sustainability efforts, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company features the school in the just released 2012 edition of its annual college guide, "The Best 376 Colleges."

Only about 15 percent of America's 2,500 four-year colleges and three colleges outside the U.S.A. are profiled in the book, which is The Princeton Review's flagship college guide. This is the first year Champlain College has been included on the list of best colleges.

Champlain College President David F. Finney said, "This recognition is a reflection of everyone at Champlain College for a continued commitment to providing the most student-centric, professionally-focused, education in the country."

The Princeton Review includes detailed profiles of the 376 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 students attending the colleges.

The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges in the book academically or from 1 to 376 in any category. Instead it reports in the book 62 ranking lists of "top 20" colleges in various categories. The lists are entirely based on The Princeton Review's survey of 122,000 students (about 325 per campus on average) attending the colleges in the book and not on The Princeton Review's opinion of the schools. Champlain is ranked 17th in the "Best Classroom Experience" category and third in the "Class Discussions Are Encouraged" category.

"We are very pleased that The Princeton Review has selected Champlain College to be a member of its prestigious Best 376 College list for 2012. However, we are even more proud of the fact that our academic experience was highlighted twice in their Top 20 rankings for academics," noted Ian Mortimer, Vice President of Enrollment Management at Champlain.

"Champlain is about helping students find their academic and career passions and developing them to their highest potential. When we are ranked third in Class Discussions Encouraged and ranked 17th in Best Classroom Experience, we feel confident that we are continuing to deliver on this promise. These rankings come from students, and our students feel they are getting the highest level of classroom engagement compared to their peers across the country -- we couldn't be prouder. It is a testament to our faculty and their dedication to making our students' investment in education valuable and experiential," he added.

The 80-question survey asks students to rate their own schools on several topics and report on their campus experiences at them. Topics range from assessments of their professors to opinions about their financial aid and campus food.

Robert Franek, Princeton Review's senior VP / publisher and author of "The Best 376 Colleges," said, "We commend Champlain College for its outstanding academics, which is the primary criteria for our selection of schools for the book. 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."

In Franek's letter to Champlain announcing the decision earlier this year, he wrote, "It was a great pleasure reviewing your school's impressive credentials. You have much to brag about!" He also noted Champlain is one of only six institutions added to the list of best colleges in the 2012 edition.

Mortimer says in his experience working in higher education that, "It is rare that an institution gets selected for this listing during its first application and lobbying effort; it usually takes a few tries. However, our story and data were very compelling."

In its two-page profile on Champlain, The Princeton Review praises the school for its "quality of life, sustainability efforts and its career services for students" and quotes extensively from Champlain students surveyed for the book. Among their comments about their campus experiences there:

• "One of the best, most innovative systems around to prepare students for the real world after college by implementing requirements throughout the program that help shape students into professional 'job hunters.'"

• "The classes are small... and this allows the students and teachers to get to know each other exceptionally well."

• At a school with such strong digital and design programs, it's no surprise that "professors and their class materials [and] structures are constantly updated and mirror many current real-life situations."

Champlain students also described campus life and their fellow students in the survey, noting:

• "(We) absolutely love the Burlington area. It is the perfect college town."

• "There is so much to do and the campus is located in the heart of it all – only about a five-minute walk from the Church Street Marketplace.

• Students are "open-minded, laid-back, tech-savvy, professional and serious about their educations."

• "Everybody knows everyone... and it's a very comfortable place to live. The community feels like a family. We all know each other."

In a "Survey Says" sidebar in the book's profile on Champlain College, The Princeton Review lists topics that Champlain students surveyed for the book were in most agreement about in their answers to survey questions. The list includes: "Students are happy and friendly," "Career services are great," and "Great library."

The schools in "The Best 376 Colleges" also have rating scores in eight categories that The Princeton Review tallies based on institutional data collected from the schools during the 2010-11 academic year and/or its student survey for the book. The ratings are scores on a scale of 60 to 99 and they appear in each school profile. Rating categories include: Academics, Admissions Selectivity, Financial Aid, Fire Safety, and Green, a measure of school's commitment to the environment in its policies, practices and education programs. Among the ratings in the Champlain profile are scores of 79 for academics, 95 for quality of life and 92 for green rating. The Princeton Review explains the basis for each rating score in the book and at www.princetonreview.com/college/college-ratings.aspx.

The Princeton Review has posted the school profiles and ranking lists in "The Best 376 Colleges" (Random House / Princeton Review, $22.99) at www.PrincetonReview.com. There users can find detailed information about the book, access its list, "100 Best Value Colleges for 2011," and see its "Honor Roll" lists saluting schools that received the highest possible score, 99, for Financial Aid, Fire Safety and Green ratings. The schools in "The Best 376 Colleges" are also part of a group of 626 colleges that The Princeton Review commends (but does not rank) in its website feature, "2012 Best Colleges: Region by Region - Northeast / Midwest / Southeast / West."

"The Best 376 Colleges" is the 20th edition of The Princeton Review's annual "best colleges" book. It is one of about 150 Princeton Review books published by Random House in a line that also includes test-prep guides for the ACT, SAT, SAT Subject Tests, and AP exams, plus "The Complete Book of Colleges," and "Paying for College Without Going Broke." The Princeton Review is headquartered in Framingham, Mass., and has editorial offices in New York City and test preparation locations across the country and abroad. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University and it is not a magazine.

About Champlain College

Since 1878, Champlain College has provided career-focused education to students from its hilltop campus in Burlington, Vt. Champlain's distinctive educational approach embodies the notion that true learning only occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain offers traditional undergraduate and online undergraduate courses, along with online certificate and degree programs and eight master's degree programs. Champlain offers study abroad programs at its campuses in Montreal, Quebec and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain College is cited in the Princeton Review's "best colleges" guidebook, The Best 376 Colleges: 2012 Edition. Champlain was named a "Top-Up-and-Coming School" by U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges and was ranked in the top tier of 2011 Regional Colleges in the North. To learn more about Champlain College, visit www.champlain.edu.

About The Princeton Review

The Princeton Review (Nasdaq: REVU) has been a pioneer and leader in helping students achieve their higher education goals for 30 years through college and graduate school test preparation and private tutoring. With more than 165 print and digital publications and a free website, www.PrincetonReview.com, the company provides students and their parents with the resources to research, apply to, prepare for, and learn how to pay for higher education. The Princeton Review partners with schools and guidance counselors throughout the U.S. to assist in college readiness, test preparation and career planning services, helping more students pursue postsecondary education.

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Media Contact for Champlain College:

Stephen Mease, Public Information and News Director, 802-865-6432 or smease@champlain.edu

Media Contacts for The Princeton Review:

Joseph Iovino, Director of Public Relations, 888-865-7737, ext 5678, JIovino@review.com

Campus photos available.