THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 25, 1994 TAG: 9411230087
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MICHELLE MIZAL, CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 220 lines
CHOOSING A COLLEGE can be a nightmare. The list of questions just keeps growing for overstressed, college-bound students.
But help is on the way. The Princeton Review (not affiliated with the university) is back with its 1995 edition of ``The Best 306 Colleges.'' Instead of asking the administrators about the school, this college guide goes to the real experts, 48,000 randomly selected students who filled out multiple-choice surveys about what is going on campus.
But is this college bible true to its word? Many students said yes.
Want to know which school has the best grub? It's in there. Who has the best places to crash? It's in there. Where is the booze bountiful? It's in there. You name it, it's in there, even the usual info about tuition, majors and SAT scores.
Eleven Virginia colleges made the top 20 in various categories, including best academics, major frat and sorority scene, dorms like palaces and dorms like dungeons.
Hampton University, Washington and Lee and the University of Richmond all got praised and trashed. The two Virginia schools getting the most ``props'' were Sweet Briar College and Randolph- Macon Woman's College.
Randolf-Macon came in first for ``professors bring material to life'' and ``things run smoothly.'' It also came in second for ``professors make themselves accessible'' and the ``best quality of life.''
``The professors not only make sure that we can understand what we learn but how we relate to the information,'' said Chevelle Smith-Donkor of Norfolk, a junior at the college. Professors not only apply the information to the students' lives but relate it to their own life experiences.
Professors at Randolf-Macon also give out their home phone numbers and even ``travel back to campus to participate in study groups,'' she said.
Sweet Briar College has the blue ribbon for ``great food'' and ``dorms like palaces,'' and is in sixth place for ``happy students'' and ``beautiful campus.''
Beverly Stone, a Sweet Briar senior, said everything the guide says about her school is correct.
The food is all ``homemade right down to the breads and pastries,'' she said. ``It makes you feel at home, knowing that it's home-cooked and it's not just thrown into the microwave.''
Stone said the renovated dorms are like palaces with their hardwood floors and ceiling fans. Students, she said, are ``happy academically'' because of the personal attention they get in the small classes.
``You feel like a person instead of a number,'' she says. ``It's like one big happy family.''
On the other hand, Hampton University topped the ``dorms like dungeons'' list and ranked No. 9 in the ``Is it food?'' category.
Hampton senior Denise Stokes of New York City said one dorm, Virginia Cleveland Hall, is responsible for the bad rating.
``It's really old, and it looks like something you'd see on top of a hill out of a Dracula movie or something.'' Stokes, who used to live in Virginia Cleveland, said the freshman dorm looks scarier from the outside than it does from the inside.
The food, however, does deserve low marks, students said.
``When I had the cafeteria food, I thought it was good because I had just gotten out of the military,'' said Eric Holifield, a Hampton senior.
``The cafeteria food is extremely lacking in variety and taste,'' Stokes agreed. She said that once, last semester, they served hot dogs in the cafeteria for four days straight.
Hampton University also ranked No. 8 for ``students go on old-fashioned dates.''
``It may be the area that we're (located) in,'' said Holifield, who is from Birmingham, Ala. ``Because of the area, there's not too much for couples to do except go out to dinner and to the movies.''
Holifield was shocked about the high rating for ``unhappy students.'' ``This is a wonderful school. . . .As far as students being unhappy, I don't see it,'' he said.
The University of Richmond is rated as having the most ``homogenous student body.'' Race and class relations are also strained, the book said.
But Suni Aras, a senior at Richmond, says the comments about strained relations are false. Aras, who is of Indian descent, said that U. of R. has a ``good diversity of opinions and attitudes.
``I haven't had any obstacles in my way. I have been able to blend in with the university,'' said Aras, who is from Downingtown, Pa.
Although the book seems to be wrong about race relations at Richmond, it is right about the liquor at UVA and the partying at Washington and Lee, current students said.
The University of Virginia ranked fifth in the nation for ``lots of hard liquor.'' Washington and Lee ranked No. 1 for ``major frat and sorority scene,'' and placed fourth for ``gay students ostracized, discriminated against.''
``I've seen a lot of hard alcohol,'' said UVA senior Stephen Schaeffer of St. Louis. ``It's not a shock to have hard liquor associated with the university, but I would not have expected us to be No. 5.''
William Crane Washburn III of Richmond, a senior at Washington and Lee, estimates that 90 percent of the males are in fraternities and says the percentage for females in sororities is just a little bit lower.
``Lexington is such a small town that there really are no social alternatives other than fraternity parties,'' Washburn said.
On homosexuals, Washburn said that ``the campus is very homogeneous. . . . I don't know why it's such a homophobic campus, but I would say that it is a fair description of Washington and Lee.''
On a more positive note, Washington and Lee ranked fifth for ``best overall academic experience for undergraduates,'' above Harvard, Princeton and Yale.
On the political tip, Hampden-Sydney College ranked sixth in the nation for ``students most nostalgic for Reagan.''
``Most of the students that go here more or less have the conservative views of Southern aristocrats. . . .We don't even have a Democratic party,'' said Adam Wilmer of Lynchburg, a Hampden-Sydney junior who describes himself as a moderate.
``There are very few people here who like Clinton,'' Wilmer said. MEMO: Michelle Mizal is a freshman at Tidewater Community College.Michelle
Mizal is a freshman at Tidewater Community College.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Michelle Mizal
Color illustration by Ken Wright
WHAT'S HOT AND WHAT'S NOT
[side bar to main story]
HAMPTON UNIVERSITY
What's hot:
radio station
leftist politics
low cost of living
pot
What's not:
uncomfortable dorms
facilities
food
financial aid
profs
homogenous student body
Hampden-Sydney College
What's hot:
conservative politics
financial aid
facilities
small lecture classes
safe campus
low cost of living
profs teach intro courses
What's not:
homogenous student body
town is boring
Hollins College
What's hot:
student government
financial aid
facilities
easy to get into classes
profs
lectures are small
What's not:
Greeks
intramural sports
homogenous student body
James Madison University
What's hot:
food
radio station
newspaper
low cost of living
minority support groups
beer
What's not:
hard to get into classes
library
studying
University of Virginia
What's hot:
newspaper
intercollegiate sports
Greeks
beer
beautiful campus
What's not:
lectures are large
high cost of living
different groups of students don't interact
Washington and Lee University
What's hot:
Greeks
food
conservative politics
lectures are small
profs teach intro courses
beer
What's not:
gay discrimination is a problem
student body is homogeneous
high cost of living
College of William and Mary
What's hot:
religion
campus is beautiful
profs teach intro courses
Greeks
What's not:
high cost of living
drinking, drugs
registration
KEYWORDS: COLLEGE GUIDE BEST COLLEGE WORST COLLEGE RANKING by CNB