St. Lawrence’s Academics, Community Earn Praise from The Princeton Review

The Princeton Review applauded St. Lawrence University for its outstanding academic and co-curricular offerings and the supportive faculty and staff who make it all possible in its most recent publication, Best 386 Colleges: 2021 Edition.

The popular college guide, which was released on Tuesday, Aug. 18, described St. Lawrence as an institution where “the ‘alumni network is super active,’ students have ‘lots of opportunities for hands-on research’ and nearly two-thirds of SLU undergrads study abroad.”

The University received several rankings in the latest edition, including Best Science Lab Facilities (#14), Most Active Student Government (#14), Most Popular Study Abroad Program (#17), Best Career Services (#18), and Best-Run Colleges (#18).

Many of these rankings speak to the adventurous nature of St. Lawrence students, who find innovative and meaningful ways to use the world as their classroom. According to the University’s most recent outcomes data on the Class of 2019, 82 percent enjoyed a research experience, while nearly two-thirds embarked on at least one off-campus study opportunity and 73 percent participated in at least one internship.

In addition to highlighting great Career Services and lab facilities, a “Survey Says” sidebar in the book's profile on St. Lawrence lists topics that St. Lawrence students were in most agreement about in their answers to its survey questions. The list includes: “students are happy [and] friendly,” “great library,” “internships are widely available,” students are environmentally aware,” as well as “everyone loves the Saints.” Students also noted that “alumni are active on campus” and “active student-run political groups.”

The power of St. Lawrence’s community and its connections were also featured by the publication thanks to student responses. “As for the staff, ‘I’ve never felt so supported and believed in,’” The Princeton Review writes. “Students specifically note that the ‘compassion professors have for individual success is incredible,’ particularly in the way that they ‘know people have different styles of learning’ and so ‘are responsive to questions and always try to make the class [as] interactive as possible.’”

Student responses to The Princeton Review also highlight how welcoming the St. Lawrence community is. One student wrote, “Even if you don’t know someone, you treat them as if you do,” and another mentioned the “extremely positive and loving” atmosphere this creates. 

“Peers  are  seen  as  ‘a  welcoming  family  in  which  everybody  can  find  friends,’  something  that’s  only  enhanced  by  “very  low-key  people  who  work  very  hard  in  the  class-room as well as [at] athletics, but [who] treat it like it is no big deal,” writes The Princeton Review. “One student posits that it might be the cold of being so close to Canada, which “brings a level of closeness and different atmosphere,” but based on responses, we think SLU just chooses warm students.”

“Every member of the St. Lawrence community, whether on campus or in careers around the world, believes fervently in creating a place for students to dream, think clearly, and begin to live their dreams,” said President William L. Fox. “We are like those giant wood planing machines in the old North Country sawmills—gouging a deep self-sustaining groove through life, so that students form lasting, lifelong connections and the confidence to make a difference in the world.”

St. Lawrence was also recently included in several of The Princeton Review’s other popular publications, including Best Value Colleges, in which St. Lawrence’s alumni network has been ranked among the best in the nation for the last several years, most recently earning the No. 4 spot. The University has also been included in Colleges That Create Futures as well as Best Northeastern and the Guide to Green Colleges.

The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges in the book. Instead, it reports 62 ranking lists of top 20 schools in the book in various categories important to prospective applicants and their parents.

Only about 13 percent of America’s 3,000 four-year colleges are profiled in Best Colleges, which is the 29th edition of one of The Princeton Review’s most popular guides. The Princeton Review’s school profiles and ranking lists in The Best 386 Colleges are posted online at www.princetonreview.com.