Queens College has been named one of the country’s best institutions for undergraduate education by The Princeton Review. The renowned education services company features QC in the 2013 edition of its annual college guide, The Best 377 Colleges. And, in a nod to its extraordinarily diverse learning environment, the college ranked fourth in the U.S. for “Lots of Race/Class Interaction”—up from eleventh last year. This category reflects how frequently and easily students from different class and ethnic backgrounds interact with one another.

“On a campus where students come from more than 170 countries and speak dozens of languages, diversity is the norm,” says Queens College President James Muyskens. “In our classrooms, dining halls, and extracurricular activities, people of different backgrounds interact—and learn how much they have in common. It’s the best possible preparation for participation in a global society.”

The college’s “Quality of Life” rating remained high this year, ranking above Fordham University, St. John’s University, Hofstra, The Cooper Union, Bard College, and all the SUNY colleges. This category is a measure of “how happy students are with their campus experiences outside the classroom,” including “beauty, safety and location of campus; comfort of residence hall; quality of food; ease of getting around campus and dealing with administrators; friendliness of fellow students; interactions of different students on campus and within the greater community.”

The Princeton Review is also famous for its annual rankings including the much-publicized “Best Party Schools.” In contrast, Queens College continues to make the top 20 in three categories: “Got Milk?” which lists campuses where beer is scarce; “Scotch and Soda, Hold the Scotch” (no hard liquor); and “Stone-Cold Sober Schools,” a category that is “based on a combination of survey questions concerning the use of alcohol and drugs, hours of study each day, and the popularity of the Greek system.”

Queens College opened its first residence hall, The Summit, in fall 2009 and it was an instant hit, with exceptionally high occupancy rates—above 96% in its first two years and an expected 97% occupancy this fall.

Caption: James Muyskens