Pitt-Bradford named one of 'Best Colleges in the Northeast'

BRADFORD, PA -- For the 10^th consecutive year, the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford has been recognized as one of the best colleges in the Northeast by The Princeton Review.

“The selection as one of the best colleges in the Northeast for a 10^th consecutive year, just as we’re closing in on our 50^th anniversary as a regional college of the University of Pittsburgh, underscores how far we’ve come and how much we’ve accomplished over the years,” said Dr. Livingston Alexander, Pitt-Bradford president.  “This recognition is significant because, in selecting institutions for its ‘Best Colleges’ list, it focuses on input from students. The comments from students demonstrate how much they value the academically challenging and personalized environment we create for them at Pitt-Bradford.”

The Princeton Review selected Pitt-Bradford as one of 226 institutions in its “Best in the Northeast” section of its website feature “2014 Best Colleges: Region by Region.”    

Besides Pennsylvania, the colleges and universities chosen for the list are located in 10 states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont, and the District of Columbia.

Robert Franek, Princeton Review's senior vice president and publisher, said, “We chose these as our ‘regional best’ colleges mainly for their excellent academic programs. From several hundred schools in each region, we winnowed our list based on institutional data we collected directly from the schools, our visits to schools over the years, and the opinions of our staff, plus college counselors and advisors whose recommendations we invite. We also take into account what students at the schools reported to us.”

Students rated their own schools on several issues -- from the accessibility of their professors to quality of the campus food.

When surveyed, Pitt-Bradford students made many positive comments about the university’s professors and academic programs. Students said the small class sizes were the university’s major strength and that the professors are willing to help and are “extremely well versed in their specific fields of study.”

Students also responded positively about the student body, which they said was friendly, welcoming and accepting of all types. “At Pitt-Bradford you are a person with a name, a face, and people are going to know you; you’re not a number,” one student said.  Another student added, “I’ve learned that all you really have to do is introduce yourself and find something in common with them.”

Pitt-Bradford’s personalized campus was cited in another national accolade in January of this year when the college research website TheBestColleges.com named it one of the 10 best regional campuses in the United States.

“Professors are considered students’ friends, going above and beyond to facilitate learning by extending office hours, giving out their private cell phone numbers and more,” according to the article.

Additionally, last year, The Princeton Review named Pitt-Bradford a Best Value College, one of only eight Pennsylvania colleges named to the list that year.