Penn Ranks in Top 20 Colleges Survey

September 16, 2008 :: Shirley Ross, Information Systems and Computing

Penn has ranked 16th nationally in the annual Top 20 Wired Colleges survey conducted by The Princeton Review and reported in PC Magazine.    According to The Princeton Review, the rankings “identify the 20 universities and colleges whose tech offerings should be the envy of their peers.”

The Top 20 Wired Colleges honors schools with the most comprehensive technology offerings.  The Princeton Review asked tech-specific questions as part of a survey conducted earlier this year for its annual publication, The Best 368 Colleges, 2009 Edition.  The survey focused on Academics, Student Resources, Infrastructure, Wireless Networks, and Tech Support including questions on everything from advanced comp sci programs and online lectures to computer labs and online security.

The inclusion of infrastructure, wireless networks, and tech support in the survey reflects the importance students place on these during their college selection process – an importance that seems to increase with each entering freshman class. 

As Penn’s central IT organization, ISC places great emphasis on giving Penn’s students, faculty, and staff every advantage possible through technology.  ISC collaborates with the University community to identify and provide tools and services that meet Penn’s needs, whether in increased online security, greater productivity, or enhanced convenience.

The 20 most connected campuses are:  University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign, Kansas State, University of Utah, Bentley College, Pomona College, Boston College, Eckerd College, Hollins University, Stanford, University of Oklahoma, Catholic University of America, Loyola, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Rice University, Villanova, Penn, University of Southern California, Carnegie Mellon, Bowdoin, and MIT. 

For more details on The Princeton Review’s Most Connected Campuses, please visit www.pcmag.com.  Complete profiles for each college can be found at www.princetonreview.com.