Mercer makes Princeton Review

Mercer University has been named in The Princeton Review’s guide to “The Best 378 Colleges 2014 Edition.” The book displays a two-page spread of information specifically addressing Mercer.

Princeton’s review said, “Mercer University is a school that students flock to for ‘its reputation as a rigorous academic institution’ where professors ‘truly want to see students succeed.”

This year the Review modified their approach to ranking colleges across the nation. The new process involves ranking schools against the top 20 colleges who make up 15 percent of the typical four year institution in the U.S. The system uses 62 categories to rank colleges on various topics such as: academics, campus life and administration.

Mercer was ranked number 16 in the category “Future Rotarians and Daughters of the American Revolution.” This category surveyed students about their political beliefs, opinions about student government and religious beliefs. Mercer ranked high in this category because the survey showed that the school was, “very conservative, [had] low levels of acceptance of the gay community on campus, high levels of popularity of student government on campus and a very religious student body,” according to the Princeton Review.

Mercer has been listed in The Princeton Review’s best colleges guide for a decade.

In the previous year’s best colleges guide, Mercer ranked eighth out of 377 schools in level of participation for intramural sports.

“It’s hard to pin down an aspect of college life that isn’t represented at Mercer,” said the Princeton Review. “If there is a buzzword to describe the student body at Mercer, it is ‘involved.’”

The Princeton Review typically chooses schools with a high concentration of academics, according to the senior vice president, publisher and author for the annual book, Robert Franek.

The company started in 1981 as an educational service, and are privately held. The Princeton Review uses institutional date surveys to compile their research for each book as well as advice from their National College Counselor Advisory Board made up of 35 staff members. In addition to this research, the Princeton Review visits colleges and surveys students on individual campuses to survey their opinions of the school.

“It is their opinion that college applicants often value the most, particularly on (or in the absence of) campus visits,” said Franck.

“We also work to keep a wide representation of colleges in the book by region, size, selectivity and character,” said Franck.