Reviewing the reviewers

In the most recent Princeton Review, IU received rankings that have students, faculty and administrators up in arms. While receiving a lower ranking for "party school" at No. 13 than the number one ranking it received in 2002, IU is ranked the No. 4 school where "students almost never study." \nMany at IU, including interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences David Zaret, believe that the rankings from the Princeton Review are not credible. IU Director of Media relations Larry MacIntyre has specifically criticized the survey's method of data collection.\nGenerally, the view of these members of the IU community is correct. The Princeton Review's finding is a grossly simplistic portrayal of a university that is wide-reaching and diverse. It is impossible to tell whether or not students study less frequently at IU than other major universities when only about 300 surveys are tallied from each campus. Somewhere in the range of 38,000 students attend IU, and a test group of such a small magnitude (about 0.8 percent of the student body) yields results that should not be taken as serious science.\nHowever, the Princeton Review ranks carry so much weight at universities around the country because so many incoming freshmen base their college choice -- to some extent, at least -- on these rankings. And, as the old saying goes, no press is bad press. If a university were to refuse to be involved in the Princeton Review's process, it would not get its name circulated in that outlet. \nThis makes for a disappointing situation: Universities have to submit to a process that is flawed so that students can make misinformed decisions based on a review that is inaccurate -- or else go unconsidered at all. It's a classic catch-22. \nThat said, there is a vein of truth to the assertion that some students rarely study. We're sure that any person in the IU community could interview a number of students and discover an array of differing study habits. One of the prominent practices will be studying the night before an exam or writing a paper hours before it's due. But it seems to be a bit obtuse to believe that this is more prevalent at IU than at other universities. Students, as a group, will have varying study habits across all universities. The No. 4 ranking given by the Princeton Review is simply a result of coincidentally getting more of one polled study habit than another -- after all, which students (studying or non-studying) would have the most time to fill out a survey? \nThe IU administration is correct in denouncing the Princeton Review's survey and the publicity surrounding it. IU has some of the brightest minds in the country enrolled in its student body. Hard work and dedication is very present in many students at IU. We suspect that it is the Princeton Review -- rather than the IU student population -- that needs to do its homework.