09/05/2019
Kellen Stepler | staff writer
Once again, Duquesne University has been named to the Princeton Review’s Best 385 Colleges for 2020. The university has been recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the best colleges for undergraduate education in the United States.
To develop the list, The Princeton Review surveyed 140,000 students attending the 385 top colleges from previous years and asked them to rate their schools on dozens of topics.
According to The Princeton Review website, these colleges were selected “primarily based on our high opinion of their academics.”
The publication also notes two key criteria that influences their selection of schools. The first criteria is to have a “wide representation of outstanding colleges.”
The publication states that “there are small- and large-sized, traditional and nontraditional, highly selective and open-admission schools, plus some that are very expensive and others that are great bargains.”
The second criteria is that any colleges the publication considers adding to the guide must agree to allow The Princeton Review to conduct independent reviews of its students.
The survey format has more than 80 questions across four categories. The survey asks participants to tell about themselves, their school’s academics and administration, campus life and their fellow students attitudes and opinions.
The publication does not rank all 385 colleges, because they “don’t believe that any one school is the best overall.”
Academically, students told The Princeton Review that Duquesne “offers students small class sizes and a welcoming staff along with good financial aid and scholarship opportunities.”
Students also said that they could easily make strong connections with their professors, and that faculty “care about the well-being of their students beyond academics.”
Duquesne’s profile in the publication also notes the “strong health profession programs” offered at the university.
Additionally, Duquesne was recognized as a “Green College” and in the “2020 Best Colleges: Region by Region” list for the Northeast.
To be considered to the “Green College” list, The Princeton Review “profiles colleges that the education services company names as having the most exceptional commitments to sustainability out of several hundred institutions The Princeton Review annually surveys for this project.”
For the “2020 Best Colleges: Region by Region” section, The Princeton Review features 656 colleges in five geographic zones: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, West and International. The Princeton Review considers the 656 colleges to be academically outstanding and well worth consideration in a student’s college search.
In the Pittsburgh area, the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham University and La Roche University were also recognized on the “2020 Best Colleges: Region by Region” Northeast section.