Lawrentians – do you remember your senior year of high school? Events such as football games, prom and graduation are some of our best memories, yet for some students, the arduous process of selecting a college to attend the following year casts a formidable shadow over all the festivities.
There’s just a little something about everyone’s senior year, whether it be in college or high school, that’s very daunting. There are big decisions to be made. High school seniors, in particular, must choose between thousands of colleges to attend. We can see the fear in the prospie’s eyes every time they cut in front of us in line at Downer – so I suppose we can cut them some slack. “Is Lawrence really the place for me?” they are wondering.
When I was in high school, I remember lying on my bedroom floor surrounded by dozens of college brochures, trying desperately to find a university that would be my perfect match. Luckily, I found Lawrence. Now maybe you’re laughing and thinking that you weren’t nearly as paranoid as I was, but in high school I took my college research very seriously. If anyone still reading this can sympathize with me, I’m happy to tell you that our efforts have been rewarded.
Lawrence University – the school we chose, yea! – has recently been named one of the nation’s “best value” undergraduate universities by The Princeton Review. In the 2006 edition of its book “America’s Best Value Colleges,” which was published earlier this month, Lawrence was recognized with only 81 other schools among both private and public institutions in 35 states.
This elite acknowledgment now places Lawrence among the top five percent of all four-year colleges and universities in the country. Our school is especially noted for its “outstanding academics, generous financial aid packages and relatively low costs.”
The 81 schools were chosen based on surveys taken by both students and administrators from over 350 institutions in the country. The Princeton Review considered over 30 factors to rate each college in four different categories, including academics, tuition, financial aid and student borrowing. If you’re curious to see the whole list of institutions recognized, you can check out the Princeton Review website.
So I guess all my research and worrying paid off. It’s rewarding to have our school recognized as a top-rate institution – as if we didn’t know that already! Hopefully this prestige will make the college application process a little less nerve-racking for high school seniors now and bring a diverse and enthusiastic group of new students to our campus next year.