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The Princeton Review selects Lycoming College for “Best 385 Colleges” guide for 2020

The Princeton Review selects Lycoming College for “Best 385 Colleges” guide for 2020

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For the third consecutive year, Lycoming College is one of the nation's best institutions for undergraduates to earn their college degree, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company profiles and recommends Lycoming College in the 2020 edition of its annual guide, “The Best 385 Colleges.”

Just 13 percent of America’s 3,000 four-year colleges are profiled in the book, which is one of The Princeton Review’s most popular publications. The company chooses colleges for inclusion based on data it collects annually from 140,000 students at 385 schools about their institutions’ academic offerings, as well as their ratings of various aspects of campus and community experiences. Lycoming College stood out for students’ ability to customize the college experience, small class sizes that help to create a close-knit community, and plentiful opportunities for hands-on research with professors and other employment and volunteer opportunities that help to develop leadership skills.

This year, Lycoming College has seen a jump in its academic profile: The Class of 2023 reports the strongest academic credentials of any incoming class in more than a decade, with 25 percent of students ranking in the top decile of their high school class — six percentage points above average for freshman of the past decade. With this increased selectivity, acceptance rates have moved from 72 percent five years ago to 61 percent of applicants currently.

“We salute Lycoming College for its outstanding academics and we are truly pleased to recommend it to prospective applicants searching for their personal ‘best-fit’ college,” said Robert Franek, The Princeton Review's editor-in-chief and lead author of “The Best 385 Colleges.”

Survey results show that students called out the College for its “accessibility,” noting that faculty are “willing to help [out] all students” who may be struggling. Students also noted a vibrant campus life with lots of entertainment options and ways to get involved through student groups and clubs, and the College’s efforts to increase diversity, which has helped to boost the number of students of color for entering classes to more than 30 percent for the fourth year in a row.

In a “Survey Says” sidebar in the book's profile on Lycoming College, The Princeton Review lists topics that Lycoming students were in most agreement about in their answers to The Princeton Review’s survey questions. The list includes: “students are happy,” “internships are widely available,” and “great financial aid.”

“Lycoming College continues to launch students into lives of meaning, and we hope that continued recognition by the Princeton Review will help prospective students and their families discover what could be the great college education for which they’ve been searching,” said Mike Konopski, vice president of enrollment management at Lycoming College. “Our admissions standards are increasing, 100 percent of students receive some form of financial aid or scholarship, and our academic offerings are evolving with the times to prepare students for the 21st-century careers they want. There is every reason to add Lycoming College to your short list of schools.”

The Princeton Review's “Best 385” profile of Lycoming College can be found at https://www.princetonreview.com/college-search?search=lycoming&ceid=find-college-search with free site registration.

About The Princeton Review

The Princeton Review is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admission services company. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate school-bound students achieve their education and career goals through online and in person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors, online resources, and its more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House. Its Tutor.com brand is the largest online tutoring service in the U.S. It comprises a community of thousands of tutors who have delivered more than 15 million one-to-one tutoring sessions. The Princeton Review is headquartered in New York, NY. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University. For more information, visit The Princeton Review. Follow the company on Twitter @ThePrincetonRev and Instagram @theprincetnreview.