Ohio Northern University is once again featured as one of the nation’s top schools in The Princeton Review’s annual college guide, “The Best 380 Colleges: 2016 Edition.” ONU also is one of the 159 institutions that The Princeton Review recommends in the “Best of the Midwest” section of its website feature, “2016 Best Colleges by Region.”
“We are pleased that this student survey again places ONU among the best universities in the country,” said Daniel A. DiBiasio, Ohio Northern University president. “This is reflective of the quality of our programs and personnel and the appreciation our students have for excellence.”
Only about 15 percent of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges are profiled in the book, which is The Princeton Review’s flagship college guide. The Princeton Review reports the 20 top-ranking colleges in these and 62 other categories on its website and in its guidebook.
The surveyed ONU students said, “ONU’s hometown of Ada, is a ‘small town,’ but one with good places to eat and a movie theatre. There’s also a ‘big town,’ Columbus, fifteen minutes away with a lot of attractions so there’s always something to do if you have the time to drive.’ Because we are in a small town, the students bond together to find fun things to do,” including D3 athletics and pick-up sports games.
Socializing and academics mix freely: “People love hanging out with each other, especially when they are trying to get things done.” “Social life can be a ‘mixed bag’ of ‘students who spend all of their time focused on school’ and ‘a good number of students who enjoy having a good time and hanging out with friends;’ still ‘people here are very relaxed—you do what you want and everyone is fine with you being who you are.’”
ONU students also were attracted to ONU’s outstanding academic reputation. According to the survey, “Many students are attracted to Ohio Northern University’s ‘prestigious’ Raabe College of Pharmacy, a six-year program” that “is focused on developing the next generation of clinical pharmacists who are well rounded leaders, clinicians, and members of society.”
But this comprehensive university offers its 3,700 students lots of other outstanding academic options: “The accounting program is highly ranked,” “it has a great political science program that has sent many students to graduate school and politics,” and “the engineering college is great.” An ONU education provides practical applications for knowledge as well as theoretical ones, with a “wonderful incorporation of current events and timeless business principles.”
Students are also drawn to ONU’s “good financial aid” and “varsity sports,” with one athlete noting that ONU “was my most affordable option of Division III schools where I could play soccer and receive a quality education.”
Undergrads feel that their “renowned faculty” “are outstanding and all influential in the field,” but also that their “professors are very friendly and down to earth” and that they “are real and treat students like people not as if they are beneath them, so it is easier to understand material.”
In addition to academic performance, “professors care about the student’s well-being and future endeavors,” and “they are always available to help.” “It‘s great that even though there are 170-plus senior pharmacy majors, the professors still know my name.” ONU‘s “classes are tough, no doubt about it,” but “my overall academic experience has been above and beyond anything I could‘ve expected.”
As a whole, students call ONU “a top-notch education with a family-like atmosphere that is very conducive for learning and excelling in many disciplines.”
The 159 colleges chosen by The Princeton Review for its “Best in the Midwest” list are located in 12 states: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Collectively, the 623 colleges named “regional best(s)” constitute about 25 percent of the nation’s 2,500 four-year colleges.
