Chapman University once again in Princeton Review’s 'Best' list

Chapman University has once again been selected as one of America’s finest universities — and also as one of the “Best in the West” — by the independent education services company Princeton Review.

Chapman is included in the new 2011 edition of Princeton Review’s prestigious annual college guide “The Best 373 Colleges (Random House / Princeton Review, August 3, 2010, $22.99).  Only about 15 percent of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges and two Canadian colleges are profiled in the book, which is Princeton Review’s flagship college guide.  It includes detailed profiles of the colleges with rating scores for all schools in eight categories, plus ranking lists of top 20 schools in 62 categories based on Princeton Review’s surveys of students attending the colleges.

Chapman is also rated as one of 120 “Best in the West” universities in Princeton Review’s regional rankings.

Outstanding academic offerings are the primary criteria for selection of schools for the book.  The selections are based on institutional data that Princeton Review collects about schools and feedback they gather from students attending the schools, in addition to the opinions of the Princeton Review staff and the company’s 28-member National College Counselor Advisory Board.

In its profile on Chapman, the Princeton Review quotes extensively from Chapman students surveyed for the book.  Among their comments: the Chapman campus is “immaculate,” “truly beautiful” and “just the right size;” film school resources are “state of the art;” the music conservatory is “world-class,” Chapman professors in general are “outstanding” and “very accommodating” and students can talk to faculty “about anything.”  Professors will “always work with you for whatever you need, and you don’t have to deal with any teaching assistants, period,” says one student quoted in the guide.  Other pluses cited by students: “social life is lively,” there’s “a good variety of clubs,” “Greek life is huge,” “the beach is super-close,” and Disneyland “is right up the street.”  Chapman’s generous financial aid packages are praised: “I know I wouldn’t be able to attend this school if I didn’t have such an awesome financial aid package,” a student says.  The students even praise each other: “I would say that 98 percent of students here are ridiculously good-looking,” says one captivated young Chapman scholar.