With high marks for best classroom experience, caring about conservation, and engagement in governance and community service, COA is “a community that is welcoming and kind and rooted in compassion… for people, plants, animals, and the planet,” the review reports.
“Ours is a pedagogy focused on self-direction and self-discovery as means towards furthering engagement with the world, and utilizing that engagement to work for meaningful change,” says COA President Darron Collins ’92. “Our students are among the most thoughtful and creative people that I have ever had the pleasure of working with and I’m grateful for the time I’ve had the pleasure of spending on this inspiring campus.”
COA’s rankings in the 2024 Best 389 Colleges top-25 lists are as follows:
#22 Best Classroom Experience
#22 Best Quality of Life
#14 Friendliest Students
#4 Great Financial Aid
#1 Green Matters: Everyone Cares About Conservation
#3 LGBTQ-Friendly
#2 Most Active Student Government
#13 Most Engaged in Community Service
#7 Most Liberal Students
#14 Professors Get High Marks
#4 Students Study the Most
#16 Their Students Love These Colleges
#1 Top 50 Green Colleges
#16 Town-Gown Relations are Great
Only about 15% of America’s 2,600 four-year colleges are profiled in the book. The Princeton Review choses the colleges for the book based on data it annually collects from surveys of 2,000 college administrators about their institutions’ academic offerings. The company also reviews data from its surveys of college students attending the schools who report on their experiences at their institutions.
“We salute College of the Atlantic for its outstanding academics and its many other impressive offerings. We’re delighted to recommend it as an ideal choice for students searching for their ‘best-fit’ college,” says Princeton Review Editor-in-Chief and lead author of The Best 389 Colleges Rob Franek.
“Located in beautiful Bar Harbor, Maine, College of the Atlantic is a ‘really small school’ that offers students a strong ‘interdisciplinary approach to learning,’” the review states in their “What students say” section about COA.
“The institution strives to shape its students into ‘more creative…and critical thinkers’ and really allows every undergrad to ‘construct their own unique path,’’ the review continues. “COA undergrads applaud the many different academic opportunities that allow for ‘hands-on, in the field experience through coursework, work-study, internships, and the senior project.’ Additionally, a number of individuals get to participate in ‘student research through local lab partners or the islands program’ as well.”
The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges in the book hierarchically, from one to 389. However, the book has 50 categories of ranking lists. Each list names the top 25 schools (of those in the book) in its category. The ranking lists are entirely based on The Princeton Review’s surveys of 165,000 students at the 389 schools in the book. The company’s 85-question student survey asked students to rate their colleges on dozens of topics and report on their campus experiences. Information on the student survey process and methodology for the ranking lists is on The Princeton Review’s website.
The school profiles and ranking lists in The Best 389 Colleges are posted at princetonreview.com/college-rankings/best-colleges, where they can be searched for free.
