Dartmouth students are rated the fifth happiest in the nation, according to a recent national survey.
The ranking was published in the 1995 edition of The Princeton Review Student Access Guide to the Best 306 Colleges along with rating lists in 62 other categories.
The guide surveyed students at 306 college campuses across the country and based the "happiness" ranking on a number of factors, including academic atmosphere, social life and amount of work.
"Everyone is really friendly and there's tons to do. Besides, everyone loves me 'cause of my accent," said Mary Hollendoner '98, a student from England.
The guide ranks schools in a variety of categories including "Best overall academic experience," "Beautiful campus," "Students most nostalgic for Reagan," "Students from different backgrounds get along" and "Birkenstock-wearing, tree-hugging, clove-smoking vegetarians."
The admissions office said it does not place much weight on the guide, which Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg called "silly."
"The proliferation of such guides devalues them," Furstenberg said. He also said the write-up on Dartmouth within the guide is out-of-date and based on many myths about the College, rather than fact.
But he said he was still happy with the rankings published in the guide. "Even though the guide is pretty silly, I'm still pleased with where we came out in the more important categories," Furstenberg said.
Furstenberg pointed toward the "Best overall academic experience for undergraduates" category, where Dartmouth placed sixth and ahead of all the other Ivy League schools, as the most important.
He said Dartmouth was one of the happiest schools "because of a combination of what Dartmouth prides itself on -- personal student experience, sense of community and in general a great student body."
Michael Weinberg '95 said, "I'm happy because I'm valued as a student -- professors respect student's academic abilities, the administration seeks to create a community and cars stop for me when I want to cross the street."
The guide pointed to the small-town atmosphere as a major reason why students are happy at their colleges.
"I'm happy when I see the squirrels, dogs and the cat on campus," Weinberg said.
The Guide ranked students at Colby College as the happiest. Northwestern University, the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. and College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine all ranked ahead of Dartmouth.
Dartmouth also ranked among the top colleges and universities in other quality of life categories such as "Great food" (7th), "Dorms like palaces" (19th) and overall "Best quality of life" (6th).
Dartmouth had the clearest balance between academics and social life in the guide, ranking near the top in both categories. This combination, along with the students' sense of belonging makes Dartmouth a happy place, according to the guide.
Dartmouth also ranked fourth in the "Lots of beer" category but did not make the top 20 list of "Party schools."
Dartmouth also did not make the top 20 list in the "Students most nostalgic for Reagan" category, the "Birkenstock-wearing, tree-hugging, clove-smoking vegetarians" category or about 55 of the total categories.
