The 2020 edition of “The Best 385 Colleges” guide also recognized Elon’s career services programs, residential facilities and performing arts productions.
Elon University has been named the best-run college and the most beautiful campus in the country by the Princeton Review college guide, with the university also recognized for excellence in academic and student life programs. The 2020 edition of “The Best 385 Colleges,” released Aug. 5, ranks the top 13 percent of the country’s 3,000 four-year colleges and universities.
The Princeton Review publishes 62 ranking lists based on a nationwide survey of 140,000 students as well as information gathered from college administrators. Elon’s profile includes several recognitions, including the following:
#1 — Best-Run Colleges
#1 — Most Beautiful Campus
#2 — Most Popular Study Abroad Program
#6 — Best College Theater
#7 — Best Career Services
#9 — Best College Dorms
#17 — Happiest Students
#20 — Best College Newspaper
"We salute Elon University for its outstanding academics and we are truly pleased to recommend it to prospective applicants searching for their personal ‘best-fit’ college,” said Robert Franek, The Princeton Review's editor-in-chief and lead author of The Best 385 Colleges.
Elon is recognized for a “visually stunning” campus and a “focus for learning [that] is very hands on.” In their comments, students highlighted Elon’s engaged and experiential learning opportunities as well as the wide range of study abroad opportunities the university provides. The guide notes that classes at Elon are intentionally small, which students said “allows for connections and questions between faculty and students.”
Princeton Review notes that “the reach beyond the classroom is perfect for Elon students, as many ‘are intent on becoming global citizens.’ Options to ‘study abroad for a semester, summer, or winter term are all very popular,’ and those who remain local will find a curriculum that encourages experiential learning through ‘internships, research, service, and leadership.’”
Elon students told the Princeton Review that their professors are “extremely student focused” and “engaged, caring and smart,” which creates an environment where “every student is a person, not just a number.” One student said that “the sense of community is truly unbelievable. … It is unlike anything I have ever experienced.”
The guide highlighted the “amazing resources” students say Elon has on its campus, including the Student Professional Development Center and the Maker Hub. Students said Elon is “a campus that inspires and collaborates,” with one student commenting that “everyone at Elon misses it when we go back home.”
This is the 15 year in a row that Elon has appeared in the Princeton Review’s “Best Colleges” guide. The Best 385 Colleges is the 28th annual edition of The Princeton Review's "Best Colleges" book and one of 150 Princeton Review books in a line published by Penguin Random House. It has been featured on NBC “TODAY” more than a dozen times, and referenced by reporters in publications from Inside Higher Education to The Wall Street Journal.