Share this Story
A 2012 "Best College in the Southeast'
Virginia Wesleyan College is one of the best colleges in the Southeast according to the nationally known education services company The Princeton Review.
By Laynee Timlin| August 10, 2011
VWC is one of 135 institutions The Princeton Review recommends in the "Best in the Southeast" section of its website feature, "2012 Best Colleges: Region by Region," posted August 1, 2011 on PrincetonReview.com. The site shares the following information about the College:
Virginia Wesleyan strives to provide a complete education, one that features a broad range of courses from different areas, depth within a student's major for professional preparation and a variety of elective courses that ensure a lifetime of flexibility and versatility. Virginia Wesleyan's Office of Career Services helps students with decisions about majors, careers, internships and part-time jobs.
Several free services on campus are also available to help students in areas where their skills may be a bit weak or where they can take their strengths to even higher levels. These include the Writing Center, Learning Center and tutoring services. One of the more visible programs on campus is the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom, which provides informative educational offerings for both the campus and off-campus communities. The center has offered a forum for people of deep faith and abiding conscience to share common goals that transcend denominational boundaries fostering conversations among persons of good will who seek to affirm our common humanity while yet appreciating our profound differences is an important part of the center's mission.
"We're pleased to recommend Virginia Wesleyan College to users of our site as one of the best schools to earn their undergrad degree," says Robert Franek, Princeton Review's senior vice president/publisher. "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."ﾃモ
Virginia Wesleyan Students Say...
Virginia Wesleyan College, or VWC as it's also known, is a small Methodist liberal arts school with "a good reputation and small-campus atmosphere" where "all of the professors careﾃ｢€ﾃモｦand are well versed in every facet of their subjects." This is not a place where student can "get by with just reading and regurgitating information; the faculty constantly challenges the students in class discussions and on tests." Community and "a sense of camaraderie" also play prominent roles at Virginia Wesleyan, where "small size and excellent faculty are a major plus." "I wanted to be a name not a number," one student says, which is helped by the fact that most professors are "willing to help you out with any issues." "The school has a more than adequate liberal arts program that many will find very helpful." Virginia Wesleyan is also mindful of students' post-graduation needs, because "many departments require their students to enter into an internship, [which] helps to give students an edge."
ﾃ｢€ To be selected as a best college in the southeast once again by the Princeton Review is indeed an honor. Itﾃ｢€ s nice to know that the good things happening at our relatively young liberal arts college are recognized by those outside our campus community. That validation is always welcome and encouraging.ﾃ｢€
VWC President Billy Greer
ﾃ｢€ To be selected as a best college in the southeast once again by the Princeton Review is indeed an honor," says Virginia Wesleyan President Billy Greer. "Itﾃ｢€ s nice to know that the good things happening at our relatively young liberal arts college are recognized by those outside our campus community. That validation is always welcome and encouraging.ﾃ｢€
The 134 colleges The Princeton Review chose for its "Best in the Southeast" designations are located in 12 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.ﾃモ The Princeton Review also designated 220 colleges in the Northeast, 153 in the Midwest, and 121 in the West as best in their locales on the companyﾃ｢€ s "2012 Best Colleges: Region by Region" lists. Collectively, the 629 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 ﾃ｢€" from the accessibility of their professors to quality of the campus food ﾃ｢€" and answer questions about themselves, their fellow students, and their campus life.ﾃモ Comments from surveyed students are quoted in the school profiles on The Princeton Review site.
The schools in the Princeton Reviewﾃ｢€ s "2012 Best Colleges: Region by Region" website section are also rated in six categories by the Princeton Review.ﾃモ The ratings, which appear on the school profiles, are scores on a scale of 60 to 99.ﾃモ ﾃモ The Princeton Review tallied these scores based on institutional data it obtained from the colleges in 2010-11 and/or student survey data.
The Princeton Review, headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts with editorial offices in New York City and test preparation locations across the country and abroad, is not affiliated with Princeton University and it is not a magazine.
About The Princeton Review:
The Princeton Review has been a pioneer and leader in helping students achieve their higher education goals for 30 years through college and graduate school test preparation and private tutoring. With more than 165 print and digital publications and a free website, www.PrincetonReview.com, the company provides students and their parents with the resources to research, apply to, prepare for, and learn how to pay for higher education. The Princeton Review partners with schools and guidance counselors throughout the U.S. to assist in college readiness, test preparation and career planning services, helping more students pursue postsecondary education.
The company also owns and operates Penn Foster Education Group, a global leader in online education, providing career-focused degree and vocational programs in the fields of allied health, business, technology, education, and select trades through the Penn Foster High School and Penn Foster Career School (www.pennfoster.edu). Penn Foster creates the platform to leverage the company's Career Education Partnerships division with the National Labor College (NLC). This venture was formed to bring high-quality bachelor degree completion and certificate programs to the AFL-CIO's 13 million members and the working adults in their families. For more information, visit www.PrincetonReview.com.
#ﾃモ ﾃモ #ﾃモ ﾃモ #
Media Contact for Virginia Wesleyan College: Laynee H. Timlin, 757.455.3366 or etimlin@vwu.edu
Media Contacts for The Princeton Review: Joseph Iovino, 888-865-7737 ext 5678 or Jeanne Krier, 212-539-1350