The Princeton Review: Bennington Scores Among the "Best 366 Colleges"

Bennington College offers students an outstanding undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review’s 2008 edition of its annual The Best 366 Colleges, in bookstores now. Just 15% of the nation’s four-year colleges were chosen for the book.

"We chose schools for this book primarily for their outstanding academics. We evaluated them based on institutional data we collect about the schools, feedback from students attending them, and our visits to schools over the years. We also consider the opinions of independent college counselors, students, and parents we hear from year-long," says Robert Franek, Princeton Review's vice president of publishing and lead author of The Best 366 Colleges.

The Bennington profile quotes extensively from Bennington College students beginning with one undergraduate's review: "I chose Bennington because it was everything high school wasn’t." This summary is just one of the reasons, according to Princeton Review authors, that "this small school…[is] so appealing to many.” The Review continues, “Although they insist that ‘there is no typical Bennington student,’ most students would concede that their peers are ‘usually creative, self-motivated, smart, and hilarious.” And capturing the quality of academic life on campus, The Review suggests that Bennington is “a great place for ‘motivated self-starters.”

In a "Survey Says. . ." sidebar in the book's profile on Bennington College, The Best 366 Colleges lists topics that Bennington College students surveyed for the book were in most agreement about. The list includes: "Class discussions are encouraged," "No one cheats," and "Dorms are like palaces."

The Best 366 Colleges is one of nearly 200 Princeton Review books published by Random House. Over the years, various ranking lists in the book have been favorably referenced by President Bill Clinton and Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and praised by USA Today as "a public service."

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