Colleges open their doors for the fall semester in the next few days, so websites and magazines are releasing lists of top schools for one thing or another.
Unigo.com, a site that asks students to rate their colleges on everything from stereotypes to teaching quality, has come out with several “Top 10 for ‘10” lists based on student reports and reviews.
According to the press release, this is a first for Unigo.com — it’s never done a top 10 list before — and is based on 30,000 student reviews of 225 colleges.
Sarah Lawrence College made the Top 10 Best Kept Secrets, “the top 10 schools that fly under the academic radar — but shouldn’t.”
Since these lists — there are 10 of them, of course, it being 2010 and all — are student driven, they reflect opinions of the consumers of education, so might not match up with what a newspaper, magazine or test-prep company considers criteria for a good school.
So some of the schools here might be a surprise.
The 10 lists include The New Ivies; Never Lock Your Doors; Best Kept Secrets; Walk of Shame Hall of Fame; Nietzschean Supermen (and Superwomen); All Business All the Time; Location, Location, Location; Life is But a Game; Politicians and Pundits; and No Last Call.
The press release adds, “The lists, with their supporting materials, will be rolled out on the site one per day for 10 days from Aug. 25 through Sept. 3.”
Here’s the list. For more comments and the reviews for schools not listed, visit Unigo.com.
THE TOP 10 FOR ‘10:
Note: Schools within each category are listed in alphabetical order.
No Last Call
Top 10 schools where “Animal House” is considered tame.
University of California – Santa Cruz
Florida State University – Tallahassee
University of Georgia
Lehigh University
University of Massachusetts – Amherst
Penn State – University Park
Washington and Lee University
West Virginia University
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Vanderbilt University
Never Lock Your Doors
Top 10 colleges that are so safe, jaywalkers are the biggest felons.
Bennington College
Bryn Mawr College
Colgate University
Dartmouth College
Davidson College
Haverford College
Kenyon College
Princeton University
Wellesley College
Wheaton College
All Business All the Time
Doctors, Lawyers, and CEOs, Oh My! Top 10 schools where students are already looking beyond their undergrad years.
Amherst College
Bucknell University
Cornell University
Davidson College
Georgetown University
University of Pennsylvania
Princeton University
Rice University
Vanderbilt College
Wake Forest University
Life is But a Game
Jocktastic! Top 10 schools where sports rule.
University of Alabama
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Florida
University of Georgia
Lousiana State University
University of Michigan
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
University of Notre Dame
Ohio State University
University of Texas – Austin
Best Kept Secrets
Top 10 Schools that fly under the academic radar – but shouldn’t.
Bard College
Denison College
Hampshire College
Harvey Mudd College
Kenyon College
Knox College
Ohio Wesleyan University
Reed College
Sarah Lawrence College
Wabash College
Walk of Shame Hall of Fame
Top 10 schools where everybody gets “lucky.”
Arizona State University
University of California-Santa Barbara
Florida State University
University of Miami
Michigan State University
University of Nevada-Las Vegas
Penn State University
Texas Tech University
Vassar College
University of Wisconsin-Madison
The New Ivies
These Top 10 Schools are the next generation of excellence.
Carnegie Mellon University
Duke University
Johns Hopkins University
New York University
Northwestern University
Tufts University
University of Virginia
Washington University in St. Louis
Wellesley College
Williams College
Location, Location, Location
Top 10 schools whose locales are the envy of family & friends.
Boston University
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-San Diego
University of Colorado-Boulder
University of Georgia
New York University
Pepperdine University
University of Texas-Austin
Tulane University
University of Vermont
Politicians & Pundits
Top 10 Schools where students follow the beltway as closely as their studies.
American University
Claremont McKenna College
George Mason University – Fairfax
George Washington University
Hampshire College
Macalester College
Oberlin College
Pitzer College
Wesleyan University
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Nietzschean Supermen (and Superwomen)
Top 10 Schools where the pursuit of knowledge goes far beyond the classroom.
Brown University
Carleton College
University of Chicago
Grinnell College
Haverford College
Macalester College
Pomona College
Reed College
Swarthmore College
Wesleyan University
