ORU Recognized as “Best of the West” by Princeton Review
Oral Roberts University was one of 125 academic institutions recognized as “Best of
the West” by The Princeton Review. This honor was highlighted in the "2016 Best Colleges:
Region by Region" website feature. The feature is accessible at http://www.princetonreview.com/bestwestcolleges.
Inclusion in the "2016 Best Colleges: Region by Region" list signifies that ORU met vital criteria identified by The Princeton Review. First, ORU had to meet standards for academic excellence within the western region. Secondly, they had to allow The Princeton Review to survey their students anonymously, either online, or on paper.
"We chose ORU and the other outstanding institutions on this list primarily for their excellent academics," said Robert Franek, The Princeton Review's Senior VP-Publisher. "We also gave careful consideration to what students enrolled at the schools reported to us about their campus experiences on our student survey for this project. We designed our 80-question survey to include questions that prospective applicants might ask on a campus visit. Only schools that permit us independently to survey their students are eligible to be considered for our regional 'best' lists, and only schools at which we see a strong level of satisfaction among their enrolled students – whom we consider their customers – make it to our final slate of regional 'best' college selections."
Surveys were distributed and collected asking students to rate ORU on a variety of factors including academics, the student body and campus life. Students described ORU as “friendly” with “lots of foreign students” and a community that is “committed to philanthropy.”
“Not only are we nurtured academically, but our spiritual and physical lives are also taken care of,” said a current student of ORU.
The academic institutions included in the "2016 Best Colleges: Region by Region" website section were also rated in six categories by The Princeton Review. These ratings, which appear on the school profiles, are scored on a scale of 60 to 99. The Princeton Review explains the criteria for each rating score on their website. Click here to see criteria for rating scores.
The 125 colleges and universities that The Princeton Review chose for its "Best in the West" list are located in fifteen states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The Princeton Review also designated 225 colleges in the Northeast, 159 in the Midwest, and 140 in the Southeast as best in their locales on the company’s "2016 Best Colleges: Region by Region" lists.