Palm Beach Atlantic University is one of the best colleges in the Southeast, according to the nationally known education services company The Princeton Review. It is one of 136 institutions The Princeton Review recommends in its “Best in the Southeast” section of its website feature, “2013 Best Colleges: Region by Region,” that posted Aug. 20, 2012, on PrincetonReview.com. In the profile on Palm Beach Atlantic on its site, The Princeton Review describes the college as “a Christian school that focuses on faith and community.”
Says Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s senior vice president/publisher, “We’re pleased to recommend Palm Beach Atlantic University to users of our site as one of the best schools to earn their undergrad degree. We chose it and the other terrific institutions we name as ‘regional best’ colleges mainly for their excellent academic programs. From several hundred schools in each region, we winnowed our list based on institutional data we collected directly from the schools, our visits to schools over the years, and the opinions of our staff, plus college counselors and advisors whose recommendations we invite. We also take into account what students at the schools reported to us about their campus experiences at them on our 80-question student survey for this project. Only schools that permit us to independently survey their students are eligible to be considered for our regional ‘best’ lists.”
U.S. News Ranks
PBA Among Top 50
Colleges & Universities
in the South
“At Palm Beach Atlantic University, we consider it a great honor to be listed among The Princeton Review’s ‘Best in the Southeast’ institutions for the fifth consecutive year. It is a designation that not only takes into account our stellar faculty and outstanding academic leadership but also the overall educational experience of our students,” President William M.B. Fleming Jr. said. “Students have many choices when it comes to institutions of higher learning, and Palm Beach Atlantic University strives to offer the very best in Christian higher education.”
The 136 colleges The Princeton Review chose for its “Best in the Southeast” designations are in 12 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. The Princeton Review also designated 222 colleges in the Northeast, 122 in the West and 153 in the Midwest as best in their locales on the company’s “2013 Best Colleges: Region by Region” lists. Collectively, the 633 colleges named “regional best(s)” constitute about 25 percent of the nation’s 2,500 four-year colleges.
For this project, The Princeton Review asks students attending the schools to rate their own schools on several issues — from the accessibility of their professors to quality of the campus food — and answer questions about themselves, their fellow students, and their campus life. Comments from surveyed students are quoted in the school profiles on The Princeton Review site. Some of the student comments in the profile on Palm Beach Atlantic University are “classes are very small so you can really learn and feel included,” and the school offers a wealth of excellent majors including pre-pharmacy and “a good School of Nursing.”
The schools in The Princeton Review’s “2013 Best Colleges: Region by Region” website section are also rated in six categories by The Princeton Review. The ratings, which appear on the school profiles, are scores on a scale of 60 to 99. The Princeton Review tallied these scores based on institutional data it obtained from the colleges in 2011-12 and/or student survey data. Among the rating scores PBA received include: Academics – 74, Financial Aid – 75 and Quality of Life – 91. The Princeton Review explains the criteria for each rating score on its site at www.princetonreview.com/college/college-ratings.aspx
The Princeton Review does not rank the 633 colleges in its “2013 Best Colleges: Region by Region” list hierarchically or by region or in various categories. However, some schools in this list that also appear in The Princeton Review book The Best 377 Colleges: 2013 Edition may appear on some of the Princeton Review ranking lists of “top 20 colleges” in 62 categories that are unique to that book. They are based entirely on the Company’s surveys of students at the 377 schools in the book.
The Princeton Review is an education services company known for its test-prep courses, tutoring, books, and other student resources. Headquartered in Framingham, Mass., with editorial offices in New York and locations across the U.S.A. and abroad, the Princeton Review, which is a privately held company, is not affiliated with Princeton University.