SHSU Named One of 'Best in the West"

UT's dubious honor was part of The Princeton Review's 2007 "Best 361 Colleges" in the United States. That organization also named 123 colleges designated as "Best in the West," including Sam Houston State.

SHSU was not ranked in the "Party School" category.

Of the 123 "western" schools listed, 21 were selected from the 74 public and private colleges and universities in Texas. In addition to SHSU, others included Baylor, Rice, Southern Methodist, TCU, Texas State-San Marcos, Texas Tech, UT, and A&M.

Those not making the list included UT System campuses at Brownsville, El Paso, Pan American, and Permian Basin. A&M System schools not listed included Commerce, Corpus Christi, Kingsville, Texarkana, and West Texas.

Also not named were U of H satellites at Clear Lake, Downtown, and Victoria, as well as Angelo State, Lamar, Stephen F. Austin, Sul Ross, and Texas Woman's.

The "Best in the West" included colleges in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

According to The Princeton Review Web site, the company interviews thousands of students each year to determine their rankings. Their survey features more than 80 questions and is divided into several sections including: "About Yourself," "Your School's Academics/Administration," "Students," and "Life at Your School."

Some of the comments about Sam Houston State University under the various topics included these.

Campus life:

Students can "always find small parties to attend or go to the school games (football, basketball, but on the weekends everyone travels back home to nearby cities."

SHSU is "surrounded by a national park, so there are many places to go camping or hiking."

The "beautiful campus...is hilly and full of huge trees."

Academics:

"The school has a little of everything, from the diversity of students to the different majors offered."

Outstanding departments mentioned included criminal justice, education, theatre and musical theatre, journalism, agriculture and photography.

Classes "are usually pretty small. The professors are great; you can really talk to them and they will help you if you have any problem with the course."

Student body:

"SHSU is the poster child school for atypical students. A very large percent work or have families, and are usually first-generation college students."

Students of "completely different backgrounds, social status, ethnicity, major, and personal style manage to interact on a friendly basis every day."

In general students say that SHSU "is great for people who are tired of the high-school drama and ready to get on with life in the real world, interacting with diversity."

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SHSU Media Contact: Frank Krystyniak
Aug. 22, 2006
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