Another Year, Another 62 Categories of Superlative Colleges

Today Mount Holyoke College can gloat over its “classroom experience,” the University of Maryland at College Park its athletics facilities, and the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering its financial aid. All came out on top of the Princeton Review’s annual rankings in 62 categories that hasty college choices can hinge on: happiness, hippiedom, food. As always, some distinctions may vex their winners: The State University of New York College at Purchase tops the test-prep company’s list for “long lines and red tape”; Trinity College, in Connecticut, finishes first in “little race/class interaction.” And the University of Georgia, like it or not, is No. 1 on this year’s list of party schools. The Princeton Review’s rankings, which also include financial-aid, fire-safety, and green honor rolls, are based on surveys of 122,000 students at 373 colleges.