Princeton Review gives Hillsdale high marks

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The Princeton Review ranked Hillsdale College as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the nation in their 2016 edition of “The Best 380 Colleges,” published last month.

In the Review’s assessment top 20 categories, Hillsdale placed No. 5 for “Professors Get High Marks,“ and No. 17 for “Most Accessible Professors.” In non-competitive categories of The Princeton Review’s assessment, Hillsdale received a score of 99 for professor interest.

“In old colleges, and in the best ones today, the distinction between teaching and research is not sharp: rather we learn together, all learning, all helping to teach,” said College President Larry Arnn. “We are blessed with a learned and dedicated faculty that understands this and thrives here because of it. And they help to make the whole place thrive.”

Only 15 percent of the 2,500 four-year colleges in the United States are included in The Princeton Review’s list.

“We want very much to attract and to retain those faculty who are brilliant and expert and  generous with their interests,” Provost David Whalen said, “and who like nothing more than sharing all that — living all that — with their students. It’s not just a point of hire, it’s on campus, we’re very consistent about being a teaching institution.”

Hillsdale also scored highly in the categories of “Quality of Life,” “Students Most Engaged in Community Service,” and “Academics.”

“Hillsdale’s outstanding academics are the chief reason we chose it for this book, and we strongly recommend it to applicants,” Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s senior vice president and author of “The Best 380 Colleges.”

The Princeton Review also placed Hillsdale at No. 10 in the category ranking the “Happiest Students.”

“Students here, even though they may be worrying about an exam that’s coming up, they recognize that they are in a kind of eudaimonic exercise here, that they’re doing something good for its own sake,” Whalen said. “To do that, and then to recognize that you’re doing that is a very grand thing, and I’m afraid it’s unfortunately pretty rare in our day. But our students do get that — they sign on for that.”

U.S. News and World Report ranked Hillsdale College No. 1 Best College for Veterans for a second consecutive year in their report released this summer. U.S. News has ranked Hillsdale in the top three in that category since 2013.

“I’m sure there are other schools that are particularly friendly to veterans, but in Hillsdale’s case, we cannot accept any GI Bill money,” Whalen said. “However, we have very generous donors who have facilitated the education of veterans at Hillsdale by providing scholarships, including full-ride scholarships for people who have served in the U.S. military to come to Hillsdale, in other words, they’ve replaced the GI money with private money that allows the veterans to come and study here.”

Veterans who come to Hillsdale can then save funds provided by the GI Bill to use them later for graduate school or other post-degree programs.

Kiplinger also ranked Hillsdale highly in their cost-effectiveness assessment of schools across the nation, placing Hillsdale No. 1 in best value colleges in Michigan, and No. 2 best value colleges in the Midwest. Hillsdale was ranked No. 17 best value of liberal arts colleges nationally.