UMaine Listed in Princeton Review’s “Best Colleges” for Seventh Consecutive Year; University Also Listed as Regional Choice and One of Just 18 “Green Honor Roll” Institutions

Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571
Leah Pennino (LPennino@Review.com) or (508)663-5133

ORONO — The Princeton Review (http://www.princetonreview.com) has listed the University of Maine among “The Best 373 Colleges” in its annual directory of the country’s best institutions for undergraduate education.  The Princeton’s Reviews 2011 edition of its annual guide hits newsstands today.  This marks seven consecutive years for UMaine on The Princeton Review “Best Colleges” list.

Only about 15 percent of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges and two Canadian colleges are profiled in the book, which is The 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 The Princeton Review’s surveys of students attending the colleges.

“We continue to be grateful for this important recognition from The Princeton Review,” says UMaine President Robert Kennedy.  “This listing means a great deal to us, because it is based — to a significant degree — on feedback and commentary from our students.  The UMaine student experience features high-quality academics, vibrant campus life and access to all the wonderful things Maine has to offer.  Our students are telling The Princeton Review, year after year, that UMaine represents quality and value, and we appreciate this form of affirmation.”

UMaine is also one of just 18 colleges and universities listed in The Princeton Review’s “Green Honor Roll.”  Maine is well-represented on the honor roll, with College of the Atlantic and Unity College joining UMaine.  Several of the nation’s leading research universities, including Arizona State, Georgia Tech and the University of California-Berkeley are also on that prestigious list, along with Harvard and Yale.

Recognizing schools for their commitment to sustainability, the Green Honor Roll lists those institutions that received the highest possible score on The Princeton Review green rating.  The guide lauds UMaine for its recycling programs, green-certified buildings and free shuttle bus service.  It also notes the fact that UMaine has a sustainability coordinator, a sustainability council and “Eco Reps” in its residence halls.

Additionally, UMaine is one of 218 colleges and universities listed in The Princeton Review’s “The Best Northeastern Colleges: 2011 Edition.”  That publication goes on sale Tuesday Aug. 10.

“We commend the University of Maine for its outstanding academics, which is the primary criteria for our selection of schools for the book,” says Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s senior vice president/publishing and author of the guide. “Our choices are based on institutional data we collect about schools, our visits to schools over the years, feedback we gather from students attending the schools, and the opinions of our staff and our 28-member National College Counselor Advisory Board.  We also work to keep a wide representation of colleges in the book by region, size, selectivity and character.”

The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges in the book academically or from 1 to 373 in any category.  Instead it reports in the book 62 ranking lists of “top 20” colleges in various categories. The lists are entirely based on The Princeton Review’s survey of 122,000 students (about 325 per campus on average) attending the colleges in the book and not on The Princeton Review’s opinion of the schools.  The 80-question survey asks students to rate their own schools on several topics and report on their campus experiences at them.  Topics range from assessments of their professors as teachers to opinions about their financial aid and campus food.  Other ranking lists are based on student reports about their student body’s political leanings, race/class relations, and LGBT community acceptance.  The Princeton Review explains the basis for each ranking list in the book and at www.princetonreview.com/college/college-rankings.aspx.

About the University of Maine:

he University of Maine, founded in 1865, is the state’s premier public university, located in the town of Orono. It is among the most comprehensive higher education institutions in the Northeast and attracts students from across the U.S. and more than 60 countries. It currently enrolls 12,000 total undergraduate and graduate students who can directly participate in groundbreaking research working with world-class scholars. Students are offered 88 bachelor’s degree programs, 64 master’s degree programs, 25 doctoral programs and one of the oldest and most prestigious honors programs in the U.S. The university promotes environmental stewardship on its campus, with substantial efforts aimed at conserving energy, recycling and adhering to green building standards in new construction. For more information about the University of Maine visit http://www.umaine.edu

About The Princeton Review:

The Princeton Review (Nasdaq: REVU) has been a pioneer and leader in helping students achieve their higher education goals for more than 28 years through college and graduate school test preparation and tutoring.  With more than 165 print and digital publications and a free website, (www.PrincetonReview.com), the Company provides students and their parents with the resources to research, apply to, prepare for, and learn how to pay for higher education.  The Princeton Review also partners with schools and guidance counselors throughout the U.S. to assist in college readiness, test preparation and career planning services, helping more students pursue postsecondary education.   The Company also owns and operates Penn Foster Education Group, a global leader in online education.  Penn Foster provides career-focused degree and vocational programs in the fields of allied health, business, technology, education, and select trades through the Penn Foster High School and Penn Foster Career School (www.pennfoster.edu), which are headquartered in Scranton, PA.