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Clemson University among top 10 colleges with friendliest students: Princeton Review

Clemson University among top 10 colleges with friendliest students: Princeton Review

Yahoo18-03-2025

Clemson University is usually the talk of South Carolina due to its award-winning football team, the Clemson Tigers.
But did you know it is also known for having some of the friendliest peers?
This is according to The Princeton Review, which ranked the university No. 10 in its roundup of college campuses with the friendliest students.
Here's why you should attend Clemson if you're looking for a place of higher education that offers smiles all around.
The Princeton Review's annual college rankings are based on what attending students in the Best Colleges book share about their college experiences via student survey. Each ranking list reports the top 25 (of the book's 390) in a specific category.
Ranking lists in the current edition of The Best 390 Colleges were tallied according to survey data from 168,000 students at the book's 390 schools. The student survey ask 89 questions in four sections, with students asked about their school's academics/administration, college life, their fellow students, and themselves. Under the "Quality of Life" category, students are asked if they strongly agree or disagree with the statement, "Students here are extremely friendly."
Students who attend Clemson believe the campus has a "family atmosphere" that can be felt throughout. The culture was described as one where "everyone has everyone else's backs," and students were viewed as "extremely nice and polite." The student body's pride and love for the university is what unites peers, despite their differences in background. One students puts it this way:
"Our differences are strong, but I think it's the love of campus ― the way we can see the mountains in the distance and breathe such fresh air, walk everywhere we need to be in 15 minutes or less, and the fierce spirit that we'll always call Clemson home ― that unites us and makes us feel like old friends."
∎ No. 1: Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas
∎ No. 2: Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan
∎ No. 3: Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, California
∎ No. 4: Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois
∎ No. 5: Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, Virginia
∎ No. 6: Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama
∎ No. 7: Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
∎ No. 8: Washington State University, Pullman, Washington
∎ No. 9: Pitzer College, Claremont, California
∎ No. 10: Clemson University
Nina Tran covers trending topics for The Greenville News. Reach her via email at ntran@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Princeton Review ranks Clemson University top 10 friendliest students

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Tacario Davis, Washington via Arizona (No. 32 transfer, No. 2 CB) This is a reunion between Davis, who began his career at Arizona, and Jedd Fisch, the head coach he originally signed with coming out of high school. Davis was a three-star prospect and the No. 107 cornerback in the country for the 2022 recruiting cycle when he first enrolled at Arizona to play for Fisch, the Wildcats' head coach from 2021-23. A reserve role in his freshman season gave way to a starting job in his second and final year under Fisch as Davis blossomed into a second-team All-Pac-12 performer by leading the conference with 15 pass breakups, a byproduct of his 6-4 frame that is unusually tall for the cornerback position. Davis remained at Arizona for the 2024 campaign when Fisch left to become the head coach at Washington, once again garnering second-team all-conference honors amid the Wildcats' first year in the Big 12. He is expected to step into a starting role opposite another 6-4 corner in Ephesians Prysock, a fellow Arizona transfer. Prysock was teammates with Davis in 2022 and 2023 before following Fisch to Washington ahead of last season. With more than 3,200 career snaps between them, Davis and Prysock will form one of the most experienced — and, very likely, the tallest — cornerback tandems in the country this fall. Theran Johnson, Oregon via Northwestern (No. 208 transfer, No. 25 CB) For the second consecutive offseason, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi are rebuilding their secondary ahead of what many expect to be a high-level, championship-caliber season for the Ducks. A year ago, the additions of safety Kobe Savage (Kansas State), cornerback Jabbar Muhammad (Washington) and slot man Brandon Johnson (Duke) propelled Oregon to a 13-0 start that included a Big Ten Championship and the No. 1 overall seed in the College Football Playoff. None of those players are still on the roster entering the 2025 campaign, which made the appeal of immediate playing time quite obvious for someone like Johnson, a redshirt senior with limited eligibility remaining. Originally a three-star recruit, Johnson signed with Northwestern over additional scholarship offers from Notre Dame and Cincinnati. He spent two seasons in a reserve role before developing into a starting corner in 2023 and 2024, logging more than 1,300 snaps during that span. Johnson finished his Northwestern career with three interceptions, including one that was returned for a touchdown, and 15 pass breakups. His tally of eight pass breakups in 2024 was tied for 24th nationally and fourth among Big Ten cornerbacks behind Muhammad (10), Thaddeus Dixon of Washington (10) and Robert Longerbeam of Rutgers (nine). Safety Dillon Thieneman, Oregon via Purdue (No. 11 transfer, No. 1 safety) As important as Northwestern transfer Theran Johnson will be for Oregon's secondary this fall, the addition of former Purdue safety Dillon Thieneman was the capstone of a portal class that ranked fifth in the country behind LSU, Texas Tech, Miami and Ole Miss. Now a junior, Thieneman was the most coveted safety in the transfer market following two standout seasons for the Boilermakers. In 2023, during his true freshman campaign, Thieneman was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and a third-team All-American by the Associated Press when he led the team with 106 tackles and ranked third nationally with six interceptions — all despite entering college as a three-star recruit and the No. 988 overall prospect in the country. Thieneman followed up with a strong individual performance during his sophomore season for a team that failed to win a single conference game. He led all Big Ten defensive backs with 104 tackles, which included the first sack of his collegiate career, and proved tidy on the back end by recording six pass breakups without a single penalty. His positional versatility over the last two seasons included 1,152 snaps at free safety, 298 snaps in the box and 118 snaps in the slot. Oregon will be counting on him to anchor a secondary that is short on experience and in need of cohesion. Cole Wisniewski, Texas Tech via North Dakota State (No. 155 transfer, No. 5 safety) Most college football fans probably aren't familiar with Wisniewski, a former zero-star recruit from the western side of Wisconsin whose only FBS scholarship offers came from Air Force, Navy, Northern Illinois and Wyoming. Wisniewski spurned all of them and spent the last five seasons at North Dakota State, an FCS school with rich tradition that won two national championships during his time on the roster. A 6-4, 220-pound safety, Wisniewski converted from linebacker following the 2022 season and was promptly named a consensus first-team FCS All-American in 2023 when he tied both the school and conference single-season record for interceptions (eight), while also leading the Bison with 92 total tackles and five pass breakups. A foot injury that required surgery eventually sidelined Wisniewski for the entire 2024 campaign before he entered the transfer portal last December, ultimately joining a portal class that now ranks second in the nation behind LSU. Wisniewski, who has one season of eligibility remaining, is expected to become the starting strong safety for a unit that brought in high-level transfers at all three levels after finishing 127th in total defense (460.2 yards per game) and 122nd in scoring defense (34.8 points per game) last fall. Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13. 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