Though many Dartmouth students may beg to differ, the College was not ranked on the Princeton Review's list of top ten U.S. "dream colleges" released earlier this month. New York University topped the list, which was compiled from the surveys of over 3,000 college applicants and 300 parents.
The survey was included in the Princeton Review's "The Best 351 Colleges" book and asked the question, "What college would you most like to attend (or see your child attend) were admission prospects or cost not issues?" Of the 3,030 college applicants and 303 parents that responded, NYU overwhelmingly topped the list, according to Princeton Review Director of Public Relations Harriet Brand, beating out number-two Harvard.
Of the eight Ivy League schools, five made the top ten, with Brown University and University of Pennsylvania being the only other Ivies not deemed "dreamworthy." Yale was fourth, Columbia sixth, Princeton seventh and Cornell tenth.
Each year the Princeton Review releases ranking based on surveys by actual college students published in "The Best 351 Colleges." The 2004 rankings placed Dartmouth third for "Happy Students," fourth for "Best Quality of Life," sixth for "Great Food" and ninth "Toughest to Get Into," which begs the question why the college applicants that answered the survey didn't think higher of Dartmouth.
"It's not so much fun hiking through New York City, for example," Luke Wachter '06 said. "It's such a vibrant place here, why wouldn't it be a dream school?"
The survey also asked students about their biggest concerns about college. Thirty-three percent of students replied that they were worried they would get in but wouldn't be able to afford college, more than the 28 percent said they were concerned about not getting into their first-choice school.
