NWC again named among Midwest's best

Northwestern College has again been named among the best colleges in the Midwest by the Princeton Review, a nationally known education services company. Northwestern is one of 159 institutions recommended in the Review’s 2016 “Best in the Midwest” section on its website, based on institutional data and the opinions of current students.  

Students quoted in the college’s profile at www.princetonreview.com/bestMWcolleges spoke highly of Northwestern’s commitment to integrate faith and learning. One student wrote, “The professors really make us think outside the box and want us to relate what we are learning in the classroom with our faith.” Another said students are “looking for ways to incorporate their faith into everyday living.” A third described the college as being devoted to “providing a safe space to dialogue and grow in knowledge along with people who have different perspectives.”

Northwestern’s faculty members were also commended for their efforts to help students. “I was surprised to see how willing my professors were to work with me if I didn’t understand something,” said one. “Professors really care about us as individuals and about our learning,” commented another.

Students cited in the profile say the campus is “a very tightly knit community.” One wrote, “If you walk into the cafeteria alone, you will not end up sitting alone.” The website also includes positive student comments about Northwestern’s commitment to diversity, small class sizes and the opportunity to be involved in many campus activities.

The profiles of all schools featured on the Princeton Review’s Best Regional Colleges website include scores on a scale of 60 to 99 in several categories based on data provided by the colleges and student surveys. Among the 15 Iowa colleges listed as the “Best in the Midwest,” only one rated higher in quality of life than Northwestern’s score of 94 and only one rated higher in financial aid than Northwestern’s score of 89. Only two Iowa schools had better ratings than Northwestern’s regarding the quality of teaching, and only three rated higher in the category of professors’ accessibility outside the classroom.

The Princeton Review’s 159 “Best in the Midwest” colleges are located in 12 states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The 649 colleges listed from across the nation represent only 25 percent of the country’s four-year institutions.