By: jackie.sauter

The Princeton Review released its annual college rankings yesterday and two Maryland schools topped two of the categories—Loyola College for best dorms and University of Maryland at College Park for best athletic facilities.

As a recent college grad, I vividly remember sitting on a couch in a library for hours going through the books of college ratings. After all, I wanted to make the most informed decision possible.

Nevertheless, what it boiled down to was actually visiting the schools I was interested in. I was certain that I wanted to attend a huge university until I began visiting schools and ended up liking a very small, private college.

I attended Goucher College in nearby Towson, and even though I had read that it was ranked the “Happiest School” in Newsweek (2004), it took an actual visit to legitimize my pre-conceived notions.

I’ve set foot in several of the Loyola dorms (pictured at left) and never considered them to be outside the norm, but maybe I was in the wrong building.

Do you think any other Maryland schools deserve recognition (i.e. best classroom experience, most diverse student body)?

RICHARD SIMON, Multimedia Reporter

(image courtesy of Loyola Web site)