Princeton Review: Smeal Offers Best Facilities, Top Ten Faculty

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (October 10, 2007) – The Princeton Review's annual business school guidebook, released this week, ranks Penn State's Smeal College of Business No. 1 on its list of "Best Campus Facilities" and No. 8 on its "Best Professors" list.

The Princeton Review compiled the lists based on its surveys of 19,000 students attending the schools in its Best 290 Business Schools book, and on school-reported data. The 80-question survey asked students about their school's academics, student body and campus life, themselves, and their career plans. 

The schools are not ranked overall; rather, the book includes profiles of all 290 schools and eleven top ten rankings of schools based on particular attributes.

"This acknowledgement from The Princeton Review confirms what all of us at Smeal have already held to be true—that our students have access to some of the best facilities and brightest business minds in the nation," said Dean James B. Thomas. "We strive to provide our students with all the ingredients for a world-class education, and this recognition is a one indication that we are achieving that goal."

Smeal's profile in the Princeton Review guidebook gives the college high marks for its peer and alumni network, "smart classrooms," and communications program. The book also states that "Smeal excels in supply chain management" and that "students tell us that finance is another strength of the program, as is business-to-business marketing."

The book's campus facilities ranking is based on student assessments of the quality of classroom, library, and gym facilities. The best professors ranking includes student ratings of how interesting and accessible they find the schools' faculties.

Smeal’s 210,000 square foot Business Building, designed by Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the Yale School of Architecture, is the largest academic building on campus. Its facilities include six MBA classrooms, 14 MBA team study rooms, an MBA commons area, a 150-seat auditorium, and a 100-seat cafe. The building is also home to Smeal's state-of-the-art Trading Room, which replicates a real-world trading experience and functions as a classroom and a laboratory.

The college's internationally ranked faculty consists of some of the world's leading business scholars. They conduct innovative, relevant research and take an active role in the classroom. Smeal faculty members are regularly published in the top academic journals and have earned countless awards and honors for excellence in both teaching and research.

The Princeton Review is a New York City-based education services company known for its test-prep courses, education programs, admission services, and 200 books published by Random House. Among them are Best 366 Colleges,  Best 168 Medical Schools and guides for graduate school admission exams and application essays. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University.