Dive Brief:
- The Princeton Review on Monday released its 2015 Best 379 Colleges guidebook, which, along with the expected "best colleges" list, includes over 62 rankings in categories like "Top Party Schools" and "Top Stone-Cold Sober Schools."
- The latter two lists were used to help publicize the release, with the top party school listed as Syracuse University, while Brigham Young University came in as the most sober.
- In all, the publisher says it compiled the 62 rankings based on 80-question surveys taken with 130,000 college students. It also ranks all of the schools in eight categories based on its survey of college administrators.
Dive Insight:
Maybe David Letterman should get royalty checks, and eternal damnation, for pioneering the list craze. Just a thought. Princeton Review is carrying on the proud American tradition here — and there’s a list for everyone.
Who has the happiest students? Vanderbilt University. Best college library? University of Chicago. Most LGBT-friendly? Stanford University. The most conservative and liberal students? Texas A&M and Sarah Lawrence College, respectively. The best campus food? Virginia Tech. Besides the lists based on the student and administrator surveys, Princeton Review also has "Great Schools for 20 Popular College Majors" and "150 Best Value Colleges" lists. The guidebook has been published annually since 1992.
