Princeton's MN Picks: Carleton, St. Olaf, Gustavus and Mac

Just four Minnesota liberal arts colleges made this year’s Princeton Review annual college rankings — Carleton, St. Olaf, Gustavus Adolphus and Macalester.

Most achievements were in the lifestyle department, with the exception of Carleton’s “Professors Get High Marks” and Mac’s “Most Popular Study Abroad Programs.”

Alas, the almighty U didn’t place.

School	Rank	Category
Carleton College	5	School Runs Like Butter (administration gets high marks)
	10	Best College Radio Station
	12	Most Liberal Students (lean left politically)
	16	Everyone Plays Intramural Sports
	16	Professors Get High Marks
St. Olaf College	6	Best Campus Food
	6	Town-Gown Relations are Great
	15	Best Quality of Life	.
Gustavus Adolphus College	18	Best Campus Food
Macalester College	8	Least Religious Students
	8	Most Liberal Students (lean left politically)	.
	11	LGBT-Friendly
	14	Most Popular Study Abroad Programs
	15	Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians
	15	Most Politically Active Students

All of the rankings and explanations are available on the Princeton Review’s Web site (registration may be required) as well as its book, “The Best 373 Colleges — 2011 Edition.”

The rankings have been criticized as being unscientific — they’re based on surveys given to 122,000 students at 373 colleges — but they’re still fun watercooler fodder.

About the blogger

Alex Friedrich

afriedrich@mpr.org

Alex Friedrich reports on higher education issues for MPR News. Among the stories he has covered: the fall of the Berlin Wall, aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, 2003 Moscow suicide bombing and 2004 presidential elections in the Republic of Georgia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a master’s in European political economy from the London School of Economics.

wbgleason

I am very skeptical of the Princeton ratings…

Nonetheless, more Minnesota schools made it at the regional level. From a Winona State press release:

http://bit.ly/9d2jh1

Winona State University has been named among the “Best in the Midwest” by The Princeton Review, a nationally known education services company, for the seventh consecutive year.

Other Minnesota schools included on Princeton Review's 2011 “Best in the Midwest” list are: Augsburg, Carleton, St. Scholastica, St. Catherine, Gustavus Adolphus, Hamline,Macalester, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Saint Mary’s University of Winona, St. Olaf, University of St. Thomas and University of Minnesota (Twin Cities and Crookston campuses.
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I think all of these places are decent schools. But the question is: Where is Morris, St. John's, St. Ben's, Duluth … Seems to be a strange sort of popularity contest. I can think of some reasons why these places might not be ranked but every one of them is AT LEAST the equal of some of the schools chosen by the Princeton folks.