SMU receives 'Best in Midwest' honor

By Jessica Paulsen
Managing Editor

This summer, a national college guide designated Saint Mary’s University as one of 159 schools receiving their “Best in Midwest” honor for 2009.
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Vice President for Admission, Tony Piscitiello, said that “a lot of people put credence in that (school rankings). So by having your name, your university listed as ‘Best in Midwest’ ... it lets people know Saint Mary’s is a good place to be”.

For people looking into SMU, there is a link on the home page of the school website to the list of rankings. Past, present and future students of SMU can look at the list and decide if it is important to them.

Piscitiello said that honors like this are important because “we all like to quantify things, and this helps people do that.” Students and families can look at The Princeton Review rankings and know that SMU compares well to its peer schools.

“As an alumnus of Saint Mary’s, someone who’s chosen to go to Saint Mary’s this means a lot to me. I hope as a student you can say to your friends, ‘Well, Saint Mary’s is one of the best schools in the Midwest,’ so that reinforces the decision you made to come here,” said Piscitiello.

There are 632 colleges and universities, which represent about 25 percent of the four-year colleges in the United States, named regional best by The Princeton Review. The Princeton Review ranks colleges and universities according to region each year based on two criteria. The schools have to meet the standard of academic excellence upheld in their region and students are anonymously surveyed about their school, according to The Princeton Review website.