College isn’t all about studying, socializing, and partying. It’s also an opportunity to grow and connect the the community in which the college resides. And that can lead to giving back to that community in the form of volunteering. The Princeton Review spoke to students from almost 400 colleges to find out how strongly they felt their school was committed to community service, and at the top of the list is St. Louis University, in Saint Louis, Missouri.
The private university identifies as a Catholic school providing students with a Jesuit education, and prides itself on having been on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll nine times since it began in 2006. At the university’s Centre for Service and Community Engagement, there are hundreds of opportunities for students to choose from to give back to their community, ranging from one-time service experiences by helping out at donation drives and fundraisers, to ongoing service opportunities in partnership with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity. The university was also the site of the county’s first Campus Kitchen, and has served over 2,000 meals every month to low-income families, seniors, and people with disabilities who live near campus.
Many of the other schools on the list who have been recognized by their students for their deep commitments to community service are private colleges such as Brandeis University, Loyola Marymount University, College of William and Mary, and Warren Wilson College.
Loyola Marymount University, which is third on the list, is a private university in the Westchester area of Los Angeles. Students told The Princeton Review that their school places an emphasis on both “social justice” as well as “the education of the whole person.” Students also say they think Loyola Marymount does a great job of attracting “a passionate group of people who are driven towards the promotion of social justice and the service of faith,” and that many students there are “compassionate,” “very giving,” and “participate in some kind of community service.”
If it’s important to you that your college experience be one where you’re surrounded by people who take care of the community, whether it’s doing taxes pro bono for the needy in the community, or serving hot dinners to the hungry, then check out the list we’ve compiled below of the most caring universities according to their students.
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