Princeton Review Survey Reflects DePaul’s Leadership in Holistic Education

DePaul University’s student body is one of the happiest and most diverse in the nation, according to rankings released this week by The Princeton Review.

The rankings are the result of a survey of more than 100,000 college students at 345 top colleges and universities, and the findings are published in “The Best 345 Colleges: 2003 Edition,” the organization’s annual college guidebook.

DePaul was ranked No. 4 in the survey’s rankings of “Happy Students,” the second time in four years that DePaul has ranked in the top five in that category. In survey results released in 1999, DePaul topped the rankings for happiest students.

DePaul also ranked No. 20 for “Diverse Student Population,” one of only two Midwestern universities in the top 20. Among “Great College Towns,” the university ranked No. 11.

“DePaul University is one of America’s best Catholic universities, with professors who ‘are overflowing with knowledge and always extremely accessible,’” read the book’s profile of DePaul. “Students here ‘have no qualms about placing DePaul in the same league as our nation’s most prestigious universities.’”

The book’s authors praised the university’s approach to holistic, undergraduate education and affordable access.

“DePaul University is the choice of many who crave the prestige and one-on-one interaction of a top private school but can’t afford a super-elite institution,” they wrote, adding that “students get plenty of bang for their buck” at DePaul.

DePaul is the largest private university in Chicago and the largest Catholic university in the nation. A richly diverse population of 21,363 students attends classes on two city and six suburban campuses.

DePaul was founded in 1898 by the Vincentian Fathers and Brothers (the Congregation of the Mission), a Roman Catholic religious community that continues the mission and values of Vincent de Paul, the 17th century French saint known as the “Apostle of Charity.”