Indiana University of Pennsylvania has been selected for the Princeton Review's Best Colleges guidebook for the 18th consecutive year.
Fewer than 15 percent of America's 2,500 four-year colleges were chosen for the publication.
“We chose IUP for this book because it offers outstanding academics,” Robert Franek, Princeton Review editor in chief and author of the guidebook said.
Editors based selection of universities for the guidebook on surveys and interviews with students. Schools in the guidebook are ranked in eight categories, including academics, admissions selectivity, and financial aid.
Students interviewed for the publication recognize IUP's “truly stellar academic departments,” and faculty who are “great, knowledgeable and passionate about what they do.” One student commented, “Professors feel like family and express that they genuinely care about the students outside of just the classroom situation.”
Students also praise the amount of opportunities to get involved on campus and saying, “Indiana, Pennsylvania is very much a college town.”
Another student commented, “The variety of majors offered here attracts many different people with different interest and goals in life. Whatever you are looking for here, you will most likely find it.” Another student commented to guidebook editors: “There is a large mix of personalities on campus. Because of this, everyone can fit in with at least one type of group.”
IUP offers more than 140 undergraduate majors and more than 60 graduate programs. In addition, students can complete more than 65 minors and scores of specialized tracks and certificate programs, including certificates in athletic coaching, gerontology, photography and digital imaging, popular music, and public history.
IUP continues to add state-of-the-art programs of study for its students. Its newest undergraduate majors are public health and environmental engineering, both in-demand careers in Pennsylvania and throughout the nation. With the recent addition of the PhD in business, IUP now offers 14 different doctoral degrees. IUP is one of only four public, doctoral research universities in Pennsylvania.
IUP is routinely included in other national publications for excellence, including Money magazine's 2017 listing of “Best College for You;” Schools.com's “Top Ten” university ranking; U.S. News & World Report's best colleges list; Forbes magazine's “America's Best Colleges” rankings and Washington Monthly's national ranking of universities based on contributions to society.