McDaniel College Named One of 'America's Best College Secrets' in New Guidebook

A new book by an expert in college admissions lists McDaniel College among 70 colleges and universities that are “America’s Best Kept College Secrets.”

Peter Arango has been working in the field of college admissions for 40 years. According to hiswebsite, he has counseled hundreds of students and families. He is an editor of the Houghton Mifflin Guide to U.S. Colleges and Universities, a former member of the executive committee of the College Board, a contributor to numerous publications, and a frequent presenter at workshops about preparing for the college search.

The book focuses on colleges that share four important characteristics: a superior institution that is exciting, challenging and welcoming; an excellent reputation with high regard from those who know colleges; acceptance rates of more than 60 percent and retention rates of more than 85 percent; and a strong interest in applicants from outside its region.

The McDaniel College website reports that Arango describes McDaniel as a college that’s notable for its degree-granting European campus in Budapest, Hungary, where its American students can work in the program that offers “great insight into the history and politics of Central Europe…as well as travel in Europe.”

He also praises the college for its undergraduate academic program, known as the McDaniel Plan that includes a freshman seminar, sophomore interdisciplinary studies, a writing course in the junior year and the capstone project in the senior year.

Other colleges in the area that made it into Arango's 70 picks include Washington College in Chestertown, Md. and Goucher College in Towson, Md.

For more information about the “Best Kept College Secrets” you can visit the website here.