Review says IU students 'almost never study'

After earning past titles as a No. 1 party school and the place to find "lots of beer," the Princeton Review has taken note to another common -- or uncommon -- activity at IU. \nThe review ranked IU as the No. 4 college where "students almost never study" in its eighth edition of "The Best 361 Colleges." IU also earned the 13th ranking for party school.\nIU administrators are hesitant to admit the rankings lend any quality information and said rankings seem to get more attention than they should.\n"We were relieved to not be ranked as a party school, the one the news media gives the most attention to," said Larry MacIntyre, IU director of media relations.\nMacIntyre doesn't agree with IU's fourth-place ranking in the lack of studying category and said he believes the review's method of data collection is unreliable.\n"(The rankings) can be damaging to a school's reputation, especially where a lot of effort comes into making sure students get good academic preparation and making sure students are forced to put time and effort into their studies," he said.\nDespite MacIntyre's hesitations about the rankings, Robert Franek, the book's lead author, said the rankings serve as more than just a means to grab media attention and set a school's reputation.\n"We're not trying to marginalize schools' efforts in any way," Franek said. "We are trying to promote information to college-bound students."\nFranek said the Yellow Pages-size book is intended to inform future students and their parents about topics outside the classroom, and the rankings serve solely as a student-assisted information source in the decision-making process.\nThe review received 115,000 completed student surveys (about 300 per campus), which contained questions about their school's academics, student body, administration, campus life and themselves, Franek said.\nRankings for the 60 topic lists are based completely on student surveys, and the book doesn't rank the schools from one to 361, which Franek finds important.\n"We try to consider everything that affects the students' quality of life, not just the best and the worst," he said.\nDavid Zaret, interim dean of the IU College of Arts and Sciences, disagrees with Franek and said the rankings are unprofessional and don't hold much credibility.\n"Its unclear to me whether anyone attaches significance to them, aside from the purpose of making headlines in the news," Zaret said. "(The ranking), with regard to 'students who almost never study,' is flatly contradicted by other reputable studies."\nZaret is referring to a U.S. News and World Report study that ranked IU 70th overall, tying five other schools and improving four spots from last year. IU was ranked 30th among public universities but tied for last with Michigan State University among Big Ten Schools.\nThe U.S. News and World Report rankings differ from the Princeton Review's because they don't include much more than academic and administrative details, MacIntyre said.\n"We know that students are not just going to exist in the classroom and that they have to have extracurriculars and a social scene," Franek said. "Some schools provide it in different ways, and that is the purpose of the book"