Latest Fiske Guide Praises Principia College
The 2019 Fiske Guide to Colleges has once again recognized Principia as one of the “best and most interesting” colleges in the country. The guide emphasizes Principia’s academic opportunities, beautiful campus, and inclusive community, noting overlaps with a variety of excellent schools, including Northwestern, Pepperdine, University of Southern California, Stanford, and the College of William & Mary.
“Academics are challenging,” the guide says, “but students can count on each other and their professors for help.” Adding that “most professors receive high marks,” the guide shares this comment from a student: “Due to the small classroom style, faculty members are extremely accessible.”
Fiske also notes the College’s many global opportunities: “Sixty percent of Principia students participate in the five or six study abroad programs the school organizes each year. Each program enrolls 18 to 22 students, and sites are determined by academic subject and focus. Recent locations have included Greece, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Ireland.”
That global focus is evident in the student body, too. “An impressive 16 percent of students arrive from abroad, and only 13 percent are from Illinois,” the guide states. That’s a plus for domestic and international students alike, as one international student quoted in the guide points out: “I’ve learned that there are more good things that bind us than negative things that divide us as human beings.”
Fiske gives the campus—both its beauty and ambiance—a top grade, calling out the student houses as “superb” with “large and comfortable” rooms. “Each house has its own sense of culture and traditions, and houses have brother-sister relationships as well as rivalries,” the guide says, quoting a business administration and mass communication major on the strong sense of community at Principia.
A junior quoted in the guide says students enjoy the comfort of Principia’s "supportive community of like-minded thinkers." Another student confirms that feeling of inclusivity, noting that “people stay on campus during the weekends to attend our awesome social events.”
Impressed by the overall quality of life at the College, Fiske concludes, “Prin graduates are culturally, spiritually, and intellectually well rounded, the product of a liberal arts education that promotes critical thinking and a broad worldview.”