Pomona, USC rank high among most ‘wired’ colleges

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Some kids choose which college to attend by its proximity to (or distance from) home. Others choose by how well the grub is rated by college guides, the size of the Greek life or, yes, the academic prowess. Now, high school students can choose their college by how ‘wired’ it is, thanks to new rankings out today by PC Magazine and Princeton Review.

The rankings take into account the amount of classes and course materials offered online, the degree of tech support available for problem-solving, the strength of the school’s Wi-Fi network and the type of computers available for student use. (It doesn’t measure the amount of time students spend instant messaging in class while pretending to listen to their professors.)

Local schools did well in the survey: Pomona College in Claremont was ranked fifth and lauded for its 24-hour on-campus computer repair service. The University of Southern California was 17th. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign took the top spot, followed by Kansas State University, the University of Utah at Salt Lake City and Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, famed for its science and technology curriculum (and its association with Matt Damon), was ranked only 20th, down significantly from its No. 2 ranking in 2006.

The University of Illinois ranked high in part because of its free laptop loan program and computing classes. Kansas State excelled because more than 76% of its lectures are available online. Bentley also gives laptops to every freshman. Villanova University, at No. 15, says it sends laptops to students while they’re still in high school. The University of Pennsylvania, which came in 16th, offers intellectual property law classes related to high tech.

But wait a minute, you say. Back when I walked uphill to college both ways in the snow, we didn’t have any of these highfalutin technologies, and I turned out just fine. Does it really matter how fast a Wi-Fi network is and how many Macs are on campus?

It doesn’t matter that much, but kids are so tech-savvy these days that they’re accustomed to always being connected, said Eric Griffith, a senior writer for PC Magazine. This is information both students and parents want to know, he said. Besides, he said, “everybody wants to know where their school falls in a ranking.”

— Alana Semuels