Princeton Review: W&M top public university for internships, impact
William & Mary is the best public university in the nation for internships and community engagement, according to a new set of rankings out today.
William & Mary also ranked highly on the other lists in the Princeton Review report, coming in at eighth among best value public colleges without aid, 12th for best value public schools, 14th among best public colleges for career placement and 16th among top public schools for alumni networks.
The rankings are part of Princeton Review’s annual Best Value Colleges guide, which contains a list of 200 colleges and universities that include stellar academics, affordable cost and strong career prospects for graduates. Although that list of 200 schools is unranked, the report also includes several categories that are. This year, each of those is broken into two rankings: one for public schools and one for private ones.
In the rankings of top public schools for internships and best public schools for making an impact, William & Mary ranked at No. 1.
The rankings were determined based on data from institutional and student surveys collected from fall 2019 to fall 2020. According to its website, Princeton Review weighted the data from the surveys according to academics, costs, financial aid, debt, grad rates and career/salary data.
According to the Princeton Review website, the internship ranking was based on “students’ rating of accessibility of internship placement at their school,” and the impact ranking was based on student ratings and survey responses to questions ranging from community service at their school and student government to sustainability efforts and on-campus student engagement. The impact ranking was also based on the percentage of alumni at each school that reported having jobs with high meaning, as reported by PayScale.com.
Today’s rankings follow another set published by Princeton Review in the fall. In that report, “The Best 386 Colleges: 2021 Edition,” William & Mary was also highlighted on several ranking lists, including lots of race/class interaction (third), happiest students (fourth), most engaged in community service (seventh), most popular study abroad program (eighth), best college library (eighth), best career services (14th), student who love their colleges (14th), best quality of life (15th) and LGBTQ-friendly (18th).
