KINGS POINT, N.Y., August 1, 2017 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) is one of the nation's best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company features USMMA in the new 2018 edition of its college guide, "The Best 382 Colleges."

Only about 15% of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges and two colleges outside the U.S. are profiled in the book, which is one of The Princeton Review's most popular guides. Published annually since 1992, it has detailed profiles of the colleges with rating scores in eight categories.  The book also has ranking lists of top 20 schools in 62 categories.. All of the ranking lists are based on The Princeton Review's surveys of students attending the colleges.

"We chose The United States Merchant Marine Academy for this book because it offers outstanding academics“ said Robert Franek, Princeton Review's Editor-in-Chief and author of "The Best 382 Colleges". "Our selections are primarily based on our surveys of administrators at several hundred four-year colleges. We also visit dozens of colleges each year and give considerable weight to opinions of our staff and our 24-member National College Counselor Advisory Board, Most importantly, we look at valuable feedback we get from each school’s customers - our surveys of students attending them. We also keep a wide representation of colleges in the book by region, size, selectivity and character."

 “We are very proud to be included once again in "The Best 382 Colleges"," said Rear Admiral James A. Helis, Ph.D., Superintendent. “USMMA offers a tuition-free world-class education to men and women of exemplary character who upon graduation will serve as officers in the Merchant Marine and the Armed Forces.”

Upon graduation, midshipmen receive a Bachelor of Science Degree, an officer’s commission in the U.S. military and a United States Coast Guard Merchant Marine Officer License which ensures a steady stream of U.S. merchant marine officers to support the nation’s economic and security interests. In exchange for their education, Kings Point graduates serve five years on active-duty in the U.S. military or work in the maritime industry for five years, with an eight year commission in any branch of the reserves.

The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges from 1 to 382 in any category. Instead it uses students' ratings of their schools to compile 62 ranking lists of top 20 colleges in the book in various categories. The lists in this edition are entirely based on The Princeton Review's survey of 137,000 students (about 358 per campus on average) attending the colleges. The 80-question survey asks students to rate their schools on several topics and report on their campus experiences at them. Topics range from their assessments of their professors as teachers to opinions about their school's library, career services.

The Princeton Review explains the basis for each ranking list at Princeton Review College Ranking Methodology 

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is administered by the Maritime Administration under the auspices of the Department of Transportation.

On the web:

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

Maritime Administration

Department of Transportation