Sixth Year of ‘Best’ for ASU in Princeton Review

For the sixth 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 2015 edition of its annual college guide, “The Best 379 Colleges,” published Tuesday, Aug. 5, 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 130,000 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.”

“Angelo State continues to make significant strides in its goal to provide an affordable quality education,” said Chancellor Robert Duncan. “This honor reflects our institution’s impressive progress year after year and shows why Angelo State remains a true asset to the Texas Tech University System.”

TPR also listed Angelo State among “great schools” for two of the top 20 most popular undergraduate majors, agriculture and nursing.

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 guide’s list of most conservative students at No. 18 nationally. 

“Outstanding academics” are the chief reason a university is included in the annual college guide, according to Robert Franek, author of “The Best 379 Colleges” and TPR’s senior vice president and publisher.

“We base our choices primarily on data we obtain in our annual surveys of administrators at these schools and hundreds of other colleges,” Franek said. “We take into account input we get from our staff, our 27-member National College Counselor Advisory Board, our personal visits to schools and the sizable amount of feedback we get from our surveys of students attending these schools.” 

SU was one of 13 Texas universities overall to make the 2015 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 379 Colleges,” ASU was among the institutions in 15 western states listed in TPR’s “Best in the West” website feature at www.princetonreview.com/best-regional-colleges.aspx.