Lafayette College was one of four Lehigh Valley colleges and universities featured in the Princeton Review’s latest guide of the best colleges in the United States.

The Lehigh Valley fared well in the Princeton Review’s latest guide of the best colleges in the United States.

Four colleges from the region – Lafayette College, Lehigh University, Moravian College, and Muhlenberg College – were among those recognized in 2019 edition of The Best 384 Colleges, which was released this month.

The 27th edition of this prestigious guide surveyed 138,000 students from across the country to determine which colleges had the best career services, classroom experiences, quality of life, happiest students, and many more categories.

“We picked the 384 ‘best’ colleges for our book primarily for their outstanding academics; we highly recommend each one,” said Robert Franek, the Princeton Review’s editor-in-chief and the book’s lead author.

“However, we know applicants need far more than an academic rating or ranking to find the college that will be best for them,” Franek said. “We created our 62 ranking lists to help narrow that search. They are based entirely on data we gather beyond academics that gives insight into what the schools’ enrolled students say about their professors, administrators, school services, campus culture, and student life. In the end, it’s all about the fit.”

Lehigh University ranked No. 1 for “Best Science Lab Facilities, and ranked in the Top 20 for “Best Career Placement.”

The guide notes that, at Lehigh, research opportunities are abundant, study abroad is popular, and a strong engineering school and business school do “an amazing job making sure everyone gets high-paying internships junior year and jobs after college.”

Lafayette College ranked highly on the lists of “Great Financial Aid” and “Best Schools for Internships.” The guide described it as “a small, prestigious liberal arts school” that offers a “warm, community feel,” with top-quality engineering education, a vast array of research and study abroad opportunities, and strong student/faculty relationships.

Muhlenberg College ranked in the categories of “Best Northeastern Colleges,” “Colleges That Pay You Back,” and “Green Colleges,” and was ranked No. 9 for Best College Theater.

The guide quoted an international studies and Spanish double major who said: “Muhlenberg is a place where someone can pursue theater AND chemistry, play a varsity sport AND lead a volunteer organization, work individually with a professor AND befriend a dining services worker.”

Moravian College also ranked among the “Best Northeastern College,” with the guide describing Bethlehem as “a beautiful town,” with students that like the school’s “small atmosphere,” “old time and historic feel,” “warm community,” and small classes.

“The community we have here is pretty unbelievable,” the guide quotes a chemistry major as saying.

“The Best 384 Colleges” is one of 150 Princeton Review books published by Penguin Random House. The book’s college profiles feature ratings of the schools in eight categories including: Academics, Admissions Selectivity, Financial Aid, Fire Safety, and Green.

The Princeton Review offers many resources for college applicants including college admission counseling and application review services, a college search tool that helps students build their personal lists of schools, and a database of college information and advice on navigating the admissions process.