NEW YORK, Dec. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — As 2020 draws to a close and the world eagerly welcomes the start of 2021, The Princeton Review® today shared highlights of the company’s activities and achievements from the past year and perspectives for the year ahead.
One of the nation’s best-known education services companies, The Princeton Review this year celebrated its 39th anniversary. Said Rob Franek, The Princeton Review’s editor-in-chief, “For nearly four decades, we have worked to help people learn, score their best on standardized tests, research, apply and gain admission to colleges and graduate schools, and upskill and advance their careers and professional accreditations. Never have we seen a year in which students worldwide faced greater challenges in each of those areas than in 2020.”
In 2020, the company helped millions of learners—from elementary school students to graduate students to professionals—navigate a wide range of learning challenges, providing services for anticipated as well as unanticipated educational needs due to the complex issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Those millions of learners included people taking The Princeton Review’s test-prep courses, using its admission counseling and Homework Help tutoring services, and accessing up-to-date information via the company’s videos, webinars, website, and books.
COVID-19–Related Company Services and Resources
In March, The Princeton Review transitioned thousands of students attending in-person test-prep courses as well as those receiving live, in-person one-to-one tutoring to the company’s proprietary LiveOnline classroom platform. That platform enabled The Princeton Review to provide best-in-class, real-time instruction to all of its students—including thousands of students the company was already serving remotely via its online courses. Fortunately, The Princeton Review, having developed its first online course in 1999, was well positioned for these transitions, drawing on two decades of experience providing truly effective online education.
In March The Princeton Review also debuted its YouTube video series on COVID-19’s impact on school admissions and higher education. The series provides timely advice on tests from the SAT®/ACT®/AP® to the GRE®/LSAT®/MCAT®. It reports updates about changes in formats, delivery systems, scheduling, and cancellations as well as test-taking strategies and tips. Videos in the ongoing series also provide information about college and graduate school applications for admission and financial aid, enrollment issues, and higher education programs. The series—which now numbers 98 videos—quickly drew an appreciative following of subscribers and viewers.
From March on, The Princeton Review produced dozens of free, livestreaming webinars to help high school and college students prepare for specific standardized tests. These hour-long interactive sessions, which were featured on YouTube’s [email protected] page, continue to provide valuable and detailed test-taking strategies from The Princeton Review’s expert teachers and tutors.
The Princeton Review content creators published several new website articles that provided updates and advice on test administration changes in 2020. Among them: Your SAT Was Canceled Because of COVID-19…Now What?
The Princeton Review editorial team, equally busy, published dozens of planned books on its 2020 schedule and also fast-tracked five additional books related to COVID-19 for fall publication. The new books included College Admissions During COVID (which was featured on NBC TODAY in November), and a series of four “Learn at Home” books: 1st Grade at Home, 2nd Grade at Home, 3rd Grade at Home, and 4th Grade at Home. The series was developed to support parents helping their children keep up with vitally important math and reading skills as well as mitigate the “COVID slide.” The Princeton Review books are all published by Penguin Random House.
In July, as part of its annual “Best Colleges” guidebook project, The Princeton Review surveyed college administrators at nearly 400 institutions on their fall reopening plans, campus modifications due to COVID-19, enrollment trends, and other timely issues. A report on the survey findings posted on the company’s website in August. Earlier, in March, The Princeton Review reported findings of its 17th annual College Hopes & Worries Survey. That survey polled nearly 13,000 college applicants and their parents on their admission perspectives, “dream” colleges, financial aid needs, and other topics.
During 2020, The Princeton Review expanded its test-prep offerings and launched several new courses, including a GMAT 700+, an LSAT 165+, and MCAT 515+ LiveOnline Immersion course. In December, the company debuted a new online course for people preparing to take the Level II CFA® (Chartered Financial Analyst®) Exam. The new offering builds on the success of the Level I CFA Exam online course that The Princeton Review launched in September 2019.
Surveys & Ranking Lists Reported in 2020
In 2020, The Princeton Review conducted its longstanding surveys for the company’s annual school profiles and school rankings in more than 100 categories. To compile the annually updated profiles and tally the ranking lists, The Princeton Review’s survey management team analyzed thousands of data points from their surveys of more than 3,900 higher education administrators and more than 200,000 students attending the schools. A new ranking list category, “Best Counseling Services,” debuted in the company’s flagship college guide, The Best 386 Colleges, published in August. It identifies the top 20 colleges at which students most highly rated their school’s mental health counseling services; #1 on the list is Virginia Tech. All of The Princeton Review school profiles and rankings are viewable for free on PrincetonReview.com. Many additionally are published in the company’s guidebooks.
The Princeton Review’s 100 categories of annual ranking lists reported in 2020 included its Best Value Colleges rankings in seven categories reported in February, its Top Undergraduate and Graduate Schools to Study Game Design reported in March, its Best Colleges rankings in 62 categories reported in August and its Green Colleges Rankings and Guide reported in October. In November, the company reported its Best Law Schools rankings in 14 categories, Best Business Schools rankings in 19 categories, and Top Schools for Undergrad and Graduate Entrepreneurship Studies, a project the company has conducted in partnership with Entrepreneur magazine for 15 years.
Over the year, several of The Princeton Review school rankings were reported by several hundred media outlets including print and online publications, as well as broadcast and social media channels. Among them were: American Public Media’s Marketplace, CBS MarketWatch, CNBC.com, NHK-World (Japan National Broadcasting System), PBS MetroFocus, Teen Kid News, and Westwood One Radio.
A Look Ahead to 2021
In 2021, The Princeton Review will celebrate three key milestones. Among them: the 40th anniversary of the company’s founding, the 35th anniversary of the first publication of The Princeton Review’s annual guide to the SAT (a book that continues to hold the distinction of being the only test-prep guide ever to become a New York Times bestseller), and the 30th anniversary of The Princeton Review’s widely followed, student survey–based school rankings in its Best Colleges guidebook. Among forthcoming books the company will publish in 2021 (in addition to its many annually updated titles) is a new edition of The K&W Guide to Colleges for Students with Learning Differences (February), and a brand-new book, The Campus Wellness Guide (July).
“As 2020 ends, we thank the students, parents, educators, administrators, and institutional partners who turned to The Princeton Review as well as to our affiliated company, Tutor.com, as their trusted provider for education services this year,” said Joshua Park, CEO, The Princeton Review and Tutor.com. “We also salute our dedicated and hardworking staff, teachers, and tutors who rallied to provide our services and to design solutions for the many challenges that arose during COVID-19. Our mission has always been to help students of all ages, interests, and backgrounds reach their academic potential and succeed in school and in their careers. We remain ever more dedicated to that mission and to creating even more impactful, successful, and accessible ways to provide education services in 2021.”
About The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admission services company. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate school–bound students achieve their education and career goals through online and in-person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors, online resources, and its more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House. The company’s Tutor.com brand is one of the largest online tutoring services in the U.S. It comprises a community of thousands of tutors who have delivered more than 19 million one-to-one tutoring sessions. The Princeton Review is headquartered in New York, NY. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University. For more information, visit PrincetonReview.com and the company’s Media Center. Follow the company on Twitter (@ThePrincetonRev) and Instagram (@theprincetonreview).
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SOURCE The Princeton Review, Inc.
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