Queens College Named one of "America's 25 Hottest Schools"

Queens College has been named by the 2008 Kaplan/NewsweekHow to Get into College Guide as one of “The 25 Hottest Schools in America.”

“The selected schools all offer top academic programs,” notes the annual guide. “This elite group was selected based on admissions statistics as well as interviews with administrators, students, faculty, and alumni.” The “Hottest” list also recognizes the colleges’ growing reputations and “popularity among top students within a booming college bound population.”

Named “Hottest for First-Generation Students”
According to the guidebook authors, “Although its families are becoming more affluent, Queens College remains a likely choice for students whose parents never went to college (38 percent of the student body). Its most celebrated recent fictional graduate is Ugly Betty—Betty Suarez—the working-class character played by America Ferrera on the ABC comedy.

“The school’s biggest claim to fame is the several generations of lawyers, doctors and other professionals who could not afford the Ivies and say Queens changed their lives. It’s still a bargain with tuition of $4,000. It looks nothing like the big city campuses of Manhattan. It has 77 acres of rolling lawns and a tree-lined Quad.”

Comments President Muyskens: “We are especially pleased with the designation ‘hottest for first-generation students’ and proud of our tradition of providing a life-changing opportunity to students who are eager for a quality education. As we in the Queens College community know, the college was established 70 years ago in response to the needs of the growing borough’s population, made up in large part of newly arrived immigrant families. Today’s students may hail from different countries than in 1937, but they have in common with our first graduates the same talent, passion, and dedication.”

When told of Queens College’s ranking, Gloria Chan and Victor Chavez—the first generation of their families to attend college—were happy but not surprised.

“Queens College is affordable,” says Chan, 23, an honors student in environmental sciences who is in her senior year. “The campus is large, beautiful and close to home. Also, there are students of so many different ethnicities here. . . . It’s so easy to fit in. I am thrilled we received this honor.” Chan was born and raised in Flushing; her parents emigrated from China.

Adds recent graduate Victor Chavez, a native of Colombia: “Queens College is definitely one of the best undergraduate institutions in this country, and I am glad it was recognized as such. Coming from a lower-middle class family, affordability was not only an important aspect in picking a college, it was the deciding factor. I am glad we made the best possible decision.” An accounting and economics major, Chavez graduated in May and has just been hired by the global financial firm Deloitte and Touche.

“Our growing undergraduate enrollment indicates that more and more smart, savvy students have learned what a wonderful choice Queens College is,” says Vincent Angrisani, Executive Director of Admissions. “Being named one of America’s Hottest Colleges should spread the word even more widely to high-achievers looking for a superb and very affordable education.”

In New York City, two other colleges were included in the Hottest 25 Colleges list: Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, “Hottest for Free Tuition,” and Fordham University, named “Hottest Catholic School.”

The 264-page Kaplan/Newsweek How to Get into College Guide went on sale August 20. Kaplan is among the largest test preparation companies in the U.S. and Newsweek magazine, which reported the Hottest Colleges story in its college issue a week earlier, has a circulation of four million. Both Kaplan and Newsweek are subsidiaries of The Washington Post Co.

In addition, the much-anticipated 2008 U.S. News America’s Best Colleges, released August 17, lists Queens College among the “Top Public Universities–Master’s–North.” 15 colleges are listed; we’re tied at #12 with Hunter, SUNY Fredonia, and U. of Mass.–Dartmouth. QC has also moved up to the #51 spot, tied with Hunter, from #62 last year. The category in which QC is ranked is “Regional Universities–Master’s,” a designation applied to higher education institutions that provide a full range of undergraduate and master’s programs but few if any doctoral programs.

Finally, the 2008 edition of the Princeton Review The Best 366 Colleges once again includes Queens College, and once again we are among America’s top ten “Stone Cold Sober Schools.” Only about 15 percent of the nation’s colleges appear in this guidebook, which chooses colleges “primarily for their outstanding academics,” according to the book’s vice president of publishing.