The average Guilford student wears Birkenstocks, is politically active, speaks up in class, acknowledges the quality of the theatre program, doesn’t participate in intramural sports, and gets high. They do all of this while listening to WQFS.
This is according to the US News and Princeton Review college rankings for 2004, the data for which was gathered during the 2002-2003 school year. The rankings, released Aug. 22, placed Guilford among the top 351 schools in the nation, and one of only 11 North Carolina schools included on the list.
The US News’ rankings are more academic than the Princeton Review’s and has Guilford tied for nineteenth for the most diverse liberal arts school of 160 schools profiled. Guilford tied with Schreiner University and Vassar College.
The Princeton Review studies many more categories and gets its data first-hand from students through online surveys that consist of about 70 questions. The categories are offered in opposite pairs: “Top Party Schools” and “Stone Cold Sober Schools,” “Best Quality of Life” and “Least Happy Students,” and “Horrible On-Campus Food” and “Great Cafeteria Food.”
The most impressive jump from the 2003 edition was the ascension of WQFS from number seven in “Great College Radio” to number four this year. The category is based on the popularity of the radio station among students and 90.9 trailed stations at Emerson College, St. Bonaventure, and Depauw.
Being politically active has apparently lost its luster in the last year, with Guilford falling from third most active to thirteenth in this year’s rankings. Also taking a plunge is the quality of the Theatre Studies Department, from eleventh last year to currently eighteenth. On the bright side, Guilford still has a top-20 program, and many colleges would gladly take that.
Not being ranked in some categories means improvement. A year ago Guilford was seventeenth in “Least Happy Students” and thirteenth in both “Long Lines and Red Tape” and “Horrible On-Campus Food.” Sophomore Cara Patillo agrees that the food has gotten better, saying, “It’s definitely better this year. The new chef knows what he’s doing.”
Another positive was ranking eleventh nationally in “Most Class Time Devoted to Discussion.” This is important as a Quaker school because we value consensus and having everyone open ideas for the entire class by speaking their minds.
A year ago, Guilford didn’t rank in the top 20 in the “Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians” category, but this year proudly jumped back in at number eighteen. “I thought we would be much higher in that,” said junior Savannah Turner.
Bill Clinton is still popular among students, as Guilford ranked thirteenth in “Most Nostalgic for Bill Clinton,” meaning students do not agree with President Bush and his policies during his presidency.
Not surprisingly Guilford ranked in the top 20 in “No One Plays IM (intramural) Sports,” coming in nineteenth. The only IM sports that have large numbers are Ultimate Frisbee and Coed Soccer.
Finally, for the second consecutive year, Guilford fell in the ever-popular “Reefer Madness” column, rounding out the top 20.
“I agree with the overall rankings. It is a pretty accurate portrayal of most Guilford students,” said senior Jon Cagle.
To see more information about Guilford and other schools, go to http://www.princetonreview.com