UNM has been profiled in the seventh annual edition of The Princeton Review’s “The Best 380 Colleges”.
The organization, an educational service that rates colleges based on performance in different fields, did not profile the 380 colleges in order. It provided ratings of performance in 62 categories, The Princeton Review officials said in a press release.
It surveyed 136,000 students who rated their schools on scale of 1-99 in 62 different categories. Only schools that received a score of 60 or higher in all categories made the list. UNM was rated 62 in quality of life, 64 in Academics and 77 in Admissions.
The Princeton Review annually collects data on more than 2,000 schools. The categories included class room experience, green colleges, athletics facilities, quality of life, academics and admissions.
“Our 62-ranking lists provide students with a way to see the types of colleges that could help them achieve their future goals and dreams,” said Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s senior vice president-publisher. “Every college in our book has outstanding academics. While our purpose is not to crown one college academically ‘best’ overall or to rank the schools 1 to 380 on any single topic, our lists provide direct student feedback on the schools’ campus culture, program offerings and cost.”
Adnan Bashir, a computer science graduate student, said the rankings were reflective of the performance of UNM.
“The quality of life is good at UNM; we get all the basic facilities on or across the campus,” he said. “The University arranges different programs and events for its students and their families. Also, the living cost in Albuquerque is really low.”
Bashir said there are a lot of places to visit in Albuquerque on campus, and he loves going out for camping.
Bashir’s opinion is consistent with other students at the University who were surveyed by The Princeton Review’s researchers. UNM was commended for offering a “solid education,” “academic excellence,” “excellent scholarship opportunities” and “amazing opportunities to travel abroad,” according to the comments on the UNM page of the “The Best 380 Colleges” website.
Zubair Abro, an anthropology graduate student, said he appreciates the friendly behavior of teachers.
“You can access your professors easily,” Abro said. “They are friendly and discuss your problems and issues.”
He also found the facilities offered by Graduate Resource Center helpful, he said.
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UNM Provost Chaouki Abdallah said in a press release that the University administration doesn’t particularly set high rankings, such as those released by The Princeton Review, as goals.
“I appreciate seeing the students’ feedback. On the whole, it was a positive description of our University and it shows that our students appreciate UNM’s strengths,” he said.
Sayyed Shah is the assistant news editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at assistant-news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @mianfawadshah.
