Clarkson University

Date: Aug 13 2010
Major: Mechanical Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
So Mr. Griffen is happy that Clarkson is included in the Princeton Review as one of the nation's best college's but complains that the Princeton Review's survey is not scientific when it comes to the other issue in the article.

Conclusion: The Princeton Review's classification of Clarkson as one of the best is also unscientific and lacks credibility.

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Excerpted from Watertown Daily Times

Clarkson students report displeasure

PRINCETON REVIEW GUIDE: Unhappiness over classes, campus, library is revealed in surveys

By LORI SHULL

TIMES STAFF WRITER

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2010

POTSDAM ? Students at Clarkson University are not happy, according to the Princeton Review's survey of the nation's best 373 colleges, published this week. They may not be happy because they find their campus ugly, their library almost nonexistent and their classes lacking in discussions.

All those opinions are according to the Princeton Review, which surveys about 300 students at each of the campuses included in the book to create the rankings.

But Clarkson officials aren't worried about what the student surveys say.

"We're happy to be included in the Princeton Review as being one of the best colleges. Only about 15 percent of the colleges across the nation are included," university spokesman Michael P. Griffin said. "The surveys are not done very scientifically and it's just a small sampling of students."

Clarkson has more than 2,700 students. Students are asked to volunteer to fill out the 80-question survey and provide commentary with the questions.

Among the student survey rankings, Clarkson ranked 10th in "least happy students," second in "is this a library?" sixth in "least beautiful campus" and 13th in "class discussions rare." The university has appeared on these lists for the past several years, though not always in the same position.

University officials say these rankings are not an accurate picture of Clarkson. The college is not trying to improve its image in the book, which is put out by a private company.

"Things we take as lightly as the Princeton Review aren't something we're working really hard on," Mr. Griffin said. "What we do instead is concentrate on feedback from students and through interactions with our students to get a better idea of what we can do to improve."

One thing the university has done to improve the campus is to build a student center, which will open before the fall semester begins. Students asked the college to build it and agreed to double their campus activity fee for a decade to raise $7 million to help fund the construction. The $25 million building will include club and study spaces, as well as a dining hall and amphitheater for guest speakers and other events.

The Princeton Review college guide is published every year and includes lists of the best colleges, broken down by region. Both Clarkson and St. Lawrence universities made the list for best colleges in the Northeast.

The book also includes ratings for environmental friendliness, fire safety and admissions selectivity, based on college policies and official data. Each school is awarded a score from 60 to 99.

In the green category, which looks at a college's commitment to buying local or organic foods and environmentally friendly architecture, among other things, both north country universities did well. St. Lawrence received an 80 and Clarkson an 88.

SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Canton were not included in the book.