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Déjà vu Princeton Review for ASU

August 06, 2013

For the fifth consecutive year, Angelo State University has been listed by The Princeton Review (TPR) as one of the country’s best institutions for undergraduate education, an honor that goes to only about 15 percent of the nation’s more than 2,500 four-year colleges.

The education services company features Angelo State in the 2014 edition of its annual college guide, “The Best 378 Colleges,” released Tuesday (Aug. 6) by Random House.  The annual college guide is The Princeton Review’s flagship publication and includes detailed profiles of the colleges with rating scores for all schools in eight areas, based on surveys of more than 126,000 students nationally.

“This recurring honor,” said ASU President Brian J. May, “reflects the national recognition of the quality education available at Angelo State University, and it is an ongoing testament to the hard work and devotion of our faculty, staff and students who have built ASU’s academic reputation.”

Kent Hance, chancellor of the Texas Tech University System, Angelo State’s governing body, said, “This outstanding honor is once again a direct tribute to Angelo State’s commitment to academic excellence and providing a quality university experience.  We are proud to have Angelo State as part of our system and truly fortunate to have such dedicated and talented faculty and staff serving our students year after year.”

Robert Franek, author of “The Best 378 Colleges” and TPR’s senior vice president and publisher, said, “Angelo State offers outstanding academics, which is the primary criteria for our choice of schools for the book.  We base our selections primarily on data we obtain in our annual institutional data surveys.  We also take into account input we get from our staff, our 35-member National College Counselor Advisory Board, our personal visits to schools and the wide range of feedback we get from our surveys of students attending these schools.”

ASU was one of 13 Texas universities overall to make the 2014 list.  The other institutions were Austin College, Baylor University, Rice, SMU, Southwestern University, TCU, Texas A&M University, Trinity University, University of Dallas, University of Houston, University of Texas and University of Texas at Dallas.  The list includes five public and eight private institutions.

The latest guide states that “Angelo State offers students a ‘very affordable’ education coupled with a ‘wide range of degree programs.’  Importantly, a ‘small-town feel’ permeates the campus, and students are quick to assert that ‘you’re not just a number at Angelo State.’”

In addition to making The Princeton Review’s list of “The Best 378 Colleges,” ASU was among the institutions in 15 western states listed in TPR’s “Best in the West” website feature.

The 80-question TPR survey asks students to rate their own schools on several topics and report on their campus experiences.  Topics range from assessments of their professors to campus activities.  Based on those questions, ASU students showed up on the guides list of most conservative students at No. 16 nationally.