Although Dartmouth may not top U.S. News and World Report's ranking of the nation's best colleges, it beats out all the other Ivies in intangible categories like "Quality of Life," "Food Quality" and "Dorm Size" in the 1998 edition of The Princeton Review's "The Best 311 Colleges."
In the category "Qualify of Life," Dartmouth beat out the other Ivy League schools as well as MIT, Stanford and Duke. Of the top 10 colleges ranked in U.S. News and World Report magazine, only Dartmouth and Brown made the category "Happy Students." Dartmouth also was listed in the categories "Beautiful Campus," "Great Food" and "Dorms like Palaces," while other Ivy League schools didn't make the cut.
In the category "Academics," only Princeton topped Dartmouth. Students there said they were more satisfied with their academic program.
The rankings are based upon random surveys of 100 to 200 students from each college.
Andy Lutg, a Princeton Review spokesman, said, "We survey the students at each of the schools and we use their responses to clash their opinions of their colleges against other students."
"We work with the administration because they can tell us stuff like new majors, and Dartmouth receives a fax from us early each year, and we ask them if there is any error," Lutg said.
Probably to the delight of College officials, Dartmouth failed to make the list of "Party Schools." Dartmouth students indicated that social life at Dartmouth is heavily fraternity oriented.
