Biola was named one of the “Best in the West” by the Princeton Review and placed in the top tier for “Best National Universities” by U.S News and World Report this past summer.
For over 20 years, Biola has been included in U.S. News’ list of national universities and ranked 161st out of 1,376 other schools, for the second consecutive year this year and is one of two colleges from the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities to be ranked in the top tier.
A LACK OF STUDENT SURVEYS
In contrast, Biola’s inclusion in The Princeton Review has fluctuated due to a lack of student surveys completed for “The Best 380 Colleges.” Each unique survey asked students to rate their college based on distinct traits such as campus life and quality of classrooms.
Students who have known of the various surveys did not take it because of inconvenience or lack of personal gain. Senior biology major Tim Wang filled one, but felt it was not worth his time since it took too long to complete.
“Anything longer than fifteen minutes I wouldn’t [take it] because there’s not enough incentive,” Wang said. “It feels like in fifteen minutes I could doing something else like homework, studying, or playing sports.”
Sophomore biology and pre-medicine major Caleb Clauss could see the benefits in completing the survey to help support Biola and convey his positive experience.
“I would fill one out so I can show what Biola has to offer as a university. I’ve never had the opportunity or sought out to do it,” Clauss said.
RAISING AWARENESS
Brenda Velasco, assistant director of public relations and internal communications, is concerned that the emails sent out are not influencing students to take the survey.
“So as you know students don’t always check their emails, they don’t always check certain emails, so they may not know, that actually has an impact so in years past, the reason why Biola was on and off [The Princeton Review list] is because our students have not taken the survey,” Velasco said.
The Princeton Review survey that determined “The Best 380 Colleges” consisted of 80 questions that are divided into sections and ask about the school’s academics, college life, fellow students and the survey takers themselves. Students select one of five answer choices that vary from phrases like “excellent” to percentages such as “20 percent” that represent the students’ overall satisfaction.
“Usually in like, November, December… we push it through social media and then we have a time-out in front of Common Grounds where we offer free coffee for students to take the survey. We want to raise awareness of the survey and raise awareness to students that their voices matter,” Velasco said.
TAKING THE TIME
Though students completed surveys for “The Best 380 Colleges,” Biola was not included in this year’s edition. However, Biola was previously mentioned in an online feature due to good quantity of surveys and Biola’s academics.
“For the Princeton Review especially, if our students can take the time to take the survey and speak into the survey it would really help other students as they are looking for a college,” Velasco said.
