Wagner College was named one of America’s best in the 30th edition of Princeton Review’s annual best colleges guide, released today.
The Princeton Review’s Best 387 Colleges for 2022 singled out the Wagner College Theatre program for special praise, including it on the list of Great College Theaters.
“I’m proud of the place Wagner College has earned in national rankings like the Princeton Review’s Best Colleges guide,” said President Joel W. Martin. “It’s a reminder of the extraordinary work of our faculty, the heartfelt support of our staff and the dedication of our students to excellence. Together, we form a learning community defined by interpersonal warmth and a collective mindset focused on growth.”
Only about 14% of America’s 2,700 four-year colleges are profiled in the Best Colleges book, which is one of Princeton Review’s most popular publications. The company chooses the colleges for the book based on data it collects each year from administrators at hundreds of colleges about their institutions’ academic offerings. Princeton Review also considers data it gathers from its surveys of students at the colleges, who rate and report on various aspects of their campus and community experiences.
“We salute Wagner College for its outstanding academics, and we are genuinely pleased to recommend it to prospective applicants searching for their ‘best-fit’ college,” says Rob Franek, Princeton Review’s editor-in-chief and lead author of the Best 387 Colleges guide.
WCT among nation’s ‘Great College Theaters’
In a normal year, the Princeton Review Best Colleges guide surveys more than 140,000 college students nationwide to find out how they feel about various aspects of their own schools. This year, however, was anything but a normal year — so Princeton Review decided that, rather than try to conduct its student survey, it would create a set of “great lists” reflecting student responses over the entire 30 years of the Best Colleges guide’s publication.
The appearance of the Wagner College Theatre program on the Great College Theater list in this 30th edition of the guide reflects the WCT’s longstanding recognition by Princeton Review, which has ranked the program among the top five collegiate theater programs in the United States since 2004.
“Wagner College Theatre’s inclusion on the Princeton Review’s Great College Theater list — alongside such revered schools as Yale, Brown and Carnegie Mellon — is a source of great pride for all of us, parents and patrons included,” said Felicia Ruff, chair of the Wagner College Theatre program.
“Our inclusion among the top five Best College Theaters on this list for the last 17 years is truly a tribute to the community of artists who choose our little school on the hill and go on to professional careers.
“Faculty, staff, guest artists, alumni and students in our program defy the odds, year after year, by putting on high-quality productions that continue to draw accolades,” Ruff said. “We hope we can continue to be a Great College Theater for decades to come.”
