The surveys have been scrutinized, the results are in and St. Thomas’ law school can be found near the top of the heap in the Princeton Review’s “Best Quality of Life” category yet again.

“It’s a great affirmation of the vision of the university’s trustees when they decided to re-establish a law school here and really laid out a vision of what the place would look like and be; what it would value,” said Vincent Thomas, the assistant dean of student affairs at the law school.

While St. Thomas’ law school came in fourth this year in “Best Quality of Life,” the school ranked No. 1 in the category in both 2006 and 2007 and second place in 2008 and 2009.

The Princeton Review annually ranks 172 law schools, as well as other post- and undergraduate schools, in several categories. Aside from the quality of life category there are titles for best career prospects, most competitive students and most diverse faculty, just to name a few.

The Review’s Web site said the “Best Quality of Life” category is based on students’ assessment of “whether there is a strong sense of community at the school, how aesthetically pleasing the law school is, the location of the law school, the quality of the social life, classroom facilities, and the library staff.”

Such a ranking is important to the school because it reflects its direction and mission, Thomas said.

“If students have a high quality of life here, they’re going to want to spend more time here, they’re going to want to spend more time around each other, around their professors,” Thomas said. “If they do that they’re going to get a better education because they’ll spend more time thinking about the law, they’ll spend more time testing out their own ideas their own thoughts on others and finding out what works and what doesn’t.”

The administration’s attitude toward the environment at the law school and its efforts to foster a comfortable one is not lost on its students.

“The school here is amazing,” said law school student Alex Wasserburger. “It’s a nice little community. Everyone takes care of everyone else. It was a big part of why I came here. It’s more like a family experience rather than just any other law school experience.”

Such a high ranking in a prominent publication has helped spread the school’s reputation.

“It is a great way for us to tell our story to a much larger audience than we would otherwise be able to [reach],” Thomas said. “To have an independent source recognize that and say, ‘This is what is actually happening there,’ and then have that go out across the country and be read by people that respect the Princeton Review. It’s a real blessing to us.”

Though people are excited about the review, what it really means is probably more important.

“[The review is] big,” Wasserburger said. “It’s very important to us. I think it’s one of the highest honors a school can get; that their students are happy – especially in a law school environment – it means a lot.”

Matt Wolfgram can be reached at mnwolfgram@stthomas.edu