Clark University in Princeton Review’s ‘Best Colleges’ guide

Clark University has been recognized by the Princeton Review as one of the country’s best institutions for undergraduate education. Clark is included in the 2017 edition of the annual college guide, “The Best 381 Colleges.”

Only about 15 percent of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges, and four colleges outside the United States, are profiled in the Princeton Review’s flagship college guide.

The Clark University profile includes extensive comments from Clark students who were surveyed about their experience. For example, students say Clark is “a place where students can focus on their education [both] inside and outside the classroom in a progressive, enlightened, empowering setting,” and that they value the fact that they’re able to “engage in serious, hands-on … research.”

Students quoted also praise Clark’s “low-pressure social environment” and the Worcester community, as well as the school’s diverse population, where “no two students are alike … we come from all over the world and each have a different story and perspective.”

In addition, the University is ranked at No. 3 among “Best Schools for Making an Impact.” These 25 schools were selected based on student ratings and responses to survey questions covering community service opportunities at their school, student government, sustainability efforts, and on-campus student engagement, as well as PayScale.com’s percentage of alumni who reported having high job meaning.

The guide includes detailed profiles of the colleges with rating scores for all schools in eight categories, plus rankings of the top 20 schools in 62 categories based on The Princeton Review’s surveys of students attending the colleges. Clark appears on the lists of “Best Northeastern Colleges,” “Colleges that Pay You Back” and “Green Colleges.”

Clark also appears at No. 11 on the ranking of schools with “Lots of Race/Class Interaction” and No. 12 among “Best College Theater.”

“The Best 380 Colleges” (Random House/Princeton Review) commends Clark University and others for outstanding academics, which is the primary criteria for selection of schools for the book. The choices are based on institutional data collected about schools, visits to schools over the years, feedback gathered from students, and the opinions of Princeton Review staff and its National College Counselor Advisory Board.

The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges from 1 to 380 in any category.  Instead, it uses students’ ratings of their schools to compile 62 ranking lists of top 20 colleges in the book in various categories. The lists in this edition are entirely based on The Princeton Review’s survey of 136,000 students (about 358 per campus on average) attending the colleges. The full methodology for the rankings can be found here.

The Princeton Review is an education services company known for tutoring, test-prep courses, books, and other student resources. Headquartered in Natick, Mass., the company is not affiliated with Princeton University.