"SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Wofford College is one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company features Wofford in the new 2017 edition of its flagship college guide, “The Best 381 Colleges,” released today.

Only about 15 percent of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges are profiled in the book, one of The Princeton Review’s most popular guides. Published annually since 1992, it includes detailed profiles of the colleges with rating scores for all institutions in eight categories, plus raking lists of top 20 schools in the book in 62 categories based on The Princeton Review’s surveys of student attending the colleges.

“Wofford College’s outstanding academics are the chief reason we chose it for this book, and we strongly recommend it to applicants,” says Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s senior vice president and author of “The Best 381 Colleges.” “We make our selections primarily based on data we collect through our annual surveys of administrators at several hundred four-year colleges. Additionally, we give considerable weight to observations from our school visits, opinions of our staff and our 24-member National College Counselor Advisory Board, and an unparalleled amount of feedback we get from our surveys of students attending these schools. We also keep a wide representation of colleges in the book by region, size, selectivity and character.”

Wofford President Nayef H. Samhat notes that Wofford has been included in the prestigious best colleges guide since its inception. “It’s an honor to be recognized consistently as one of the country’s best institutions of higher education,” he says. “The Princeton Review is highly respected for its college guide, and to have been a part of this list for 25 years makes us proud.” The Princeton Review also earlier this year recognized Wofford as a “college that pays you back,” providing students a superb education and great career preparation at an affordable price.

In its two-page profile of Wofford, The Princeton Review, quoting students, says, “With its ‘beautiful’ campus, great ‘sense of community’ and ‘incredible financial aid,’ Wofford College is a higher education dream!” Students also told the guide that while classes at Wofford are challenging, “the ‘effort is well worth it,’ especially when you consider the high ‘acceptance rates into graduate schools.’” The students appreciate the smaller classes at Wofford that promote lots of “discussion … and endless opportunities.”

Undergraduates at Wofford also “have the benefit of learning from professors who are ‘so passionate about their (respective) fields and about teaching.”

“Wofford does a great job of cultivating a ‘vibrant and loving community,’” the guide quotes students as saying. “Indeed, students speak warmly about their ‘friendly,’ ‘outgoing’ and ‘intelligent’ peers.”

The guide’s editors note that Wofford “is increasing efforts to attract a more diverse student body” and that students say their “classmates ‘are accepting of everyone and willing to take other’s values into consideration’ no matter where they come from.”

In the “Survey Says” sidebar in the book’s profile on Wofford, the guide lists topics that Wofford students surveyed were in most agreement about. This list includes:
• Students are happy.
• Classroom facilities are great.
• Internships are widely available.
• School is well run.
• Easy to get around campus.
• Frats and sororities are popular.
• Alumni active on campus.

The Princeton Review's school profiles and ranking lists in “The Best 381 Colleges” are posted at PrincetonReview.com/best381. There users also can access the book’s lists of schools it profiles and ranks in “Colleges That Pay You Back.”

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