Wagner College was named one of America’s best colleges in the Princeton Review’s new “Best 388 Colleges” guide, which was released today.
Special kudos went to the Wagner College Theatre program, which was ranked Number 3 in the nation.
“We are happy to see Wagner College being recognized by the Princeton Review, once again, among the best colleges in America,” said Wagner College President Angelo Araimo. “We are equally proud of the recognition for the Wagner College Theatre program, which has ranked among the top five collegiate theaters in the country for more than two decades.”
“Since 1992, our mission has been to give students a more useful resource to find the best college for them,” said Rob Franek, editor-in-chief of the Princeton Review and lead author of “The Best 388 Colleges.”
“Our selection of the colleges in this book is based on our opinion of their academic offerings. We recommend each one as an academically outstanding choice for an applicant,” Franek said. “Our ranking lists, however, are not based on our opinions of the colleges. They’re entirely based on what the schools’ own students have told us about their experiences at them.”
This link will take you to the Princeton Review “Best 388 Colleges” web page for Wagner College.
Theater program #3 in America
Wagner College Theatre was ranked #3 among collegiate theater programs in America in the Princeton Review’s “Best 388 Colleges” guide for 2023.
The ranking reflects the survey responses of Wagner College students to the question, “How do you rate your college’s theater productions?”
Wagner came ahead of Brown, Elon, Bard, Skidmore, Sarah Lawrence, Columbia, Bryn Mawr and Vassar, among others.
The WCT has been ranked among the top five collegiate theater programs in the United States by the Princeton Review since 2004. See this year’s complete list here.
"The creativity we see in the students that choose to come to Wagner College is what elevates Wagner College Theatre," said Theresa McCarthy, chair of the college's Department of Performing Arts. "Faculty and staff are inspired and engaged by these captivating young artists, who bring promising ideas to theater making. The Performing Arts Department is devoted to the development of the unique talents of each member of our community."
Wagner College has several strong programs in the performing arts, including majors in Arts Administration, Dance Education, Theatre Performance, a dual major in Theatre and Education, and minors in Theatre and Dance. In recent years, Wagner alumni have been found onstage in Broadway shows like “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Fiddler” in Yiddish, “Aladdin,” “Come From Away,” “Pretty Woman” and “Moulin Rouge.” They have worked behind the scenes at major venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Met and Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, and have served in key roles in casting and producers’ offices, P.R. firms, touring productions, festivals, cruises and educational settings.
The Top 20 lists
The Princeton Review tallied the rankings for the Top 25 lists in the new Best Colleges guide based on its surveys of 160,000 students (about 400 per campus) attending the 388 colleges in the book in 2021-22 and/or the previous two school years.
The survey asks students 85 questions about their school’s academics, administration, student body, and themselves. The format uses a five-point Likert scale to convert qualitative student assessments into quantitative data for school-to-school comparisons. You’ll find more information on the ranking methodology on the Princeton Review website.
