News

Clip from the Aug. 2, 2011 Today Show mentioning Florida Southern College's ranking.

LAKELAND, Fla. (August 2, 2011) – Florida Southern College's stunning campus has been ranked as the nation’s “Most Beautiful Campus” in The Princeton Review's 2012 edition of its annual college guidebook, The Best 376 Colleges. The College has also been named as one of the country's best institutions for undergraduate education.

The 2012 rankings were released to the public today. In 2011, Florida Southern College was ranked the #9 “Most Beautiful Campus” in the nation.

The Princeton Review's "Most Beautiful Campus" list, one of its strongest indicators of quality of life on college campuses, cites FSC's campus as an inspiring place to live and study. In addition to the world's largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright structures, the campus also boasts historic architecture from 1922, when the College moved to Lakeland, as well as contemporary designs by world-renowned architect Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the Yale School of Architecture.

From formal rose gardens to working citrus groves to environmentally sustainable native plant areas, the 100-acre campus on the shores of Lake Hollingsworth offers a wealth of natural oases and tropical retreats.

“We are honored and delighted that our exceptional and historic campus has been selected for such a prestigious award,” said FSC President Dr. Anne B. Kerr. “The Princeton Review has recognized what Florida Southern College students, faculty, and staff have long known — that we are privileged to have the most beautiful campus in the nation.”

Only about 15% of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges and three colleges outside the USA are profiled in the book, which is The Princeton Review's flagship college guide. It includes detailed profiles of the colleges with rating scores for all schools in eight categories, plus ranking lists of top 20 schools in 62 categories based on The Princeton Review's surveys of students attending the colleges.

"We commend Florida Southern College for its outstanding academics, which is the primary criteria for our selection of schools for the book. Our choices are based on institutional data we collect about schools, our visits to schools over the years, feedback we gather from students attending the schools, and the opinions of our staff and our 28-member National College Counselor Advisory Board," said Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s senior vice president/publisher and author of The Best 376 Colleges.

In its profile on Florida Southern College, The Princeton Review praises the College's strong sense of community, committed and caring professors, and strong academics. The book extensively quotes from FSC students surveyed by The Princeton Review. One student is quoted as saying students can expect a "personalized education" at Florida Southern College, a small school that is "the perfect size for any student that doesn't want to go unnoticed!" In addition, another student said, "FSC gives you a great education, both academically and socially, not only because the campus is small… but [also] because the professors want to get to know you as a person, not just a number on their roll call."

In addition to Florida Southern College’s “Most Beautiful Campus” designation, the school is also ranked number 10 in the “Everybody Plays Intramural Sports” category, recognizing the College’s high rate of student involvement on campus.

The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges in the book academically or from 1 to 376 in any category. Instead, it reports 62 ranking lists of "top 20" colleges in various categories. The lists are entirely based on The Princeton Review's survey of 122,000 students (about 325 per campus on average) attending the colleges. The 80-question survey asks students to rate their own schools on several topics and report on their campus experiences at them. Topics range from assessments of their professors to opinions about their financial aid and campus food.