On Monday, The Princeton Review released its 2012 edition of “The Best 376 Colleges”. The Princeton Review, best known as the most popular college guide for prospective students and parents, surveyed over 122,000 students in order to release its newest addition/edition. The main categories include: Academic/Administration, Demographics, Town Life, Schools by Type, Politics, Quality of Life, Extracurricular and perhaps the most sought after for browsing students: Social Scene (partying).

The company aimed to further appeal to high school grads this year by renaming many of their traditional 62 sub-categories. Colleges and Universities are ranked into some quirky and contemporary sub-categories including: “Dorms Like Dungeons v. Dorms Like Palaces”, “Lots of Hard Liquor v. Scotch Soda, Hold the Scotch”, “LGBT-friendly v. LGBT unfriendly”, and “Les Artistes (dodgeball targets) v. Type A Types (jock schools)”. Parents will still recognize many of the traditional categories including: Best Study Abroad Programs, Best Career Services, Great College Towns, and Best Campus Food.

For those of us not inclined to read the entire book, consider just skipping to the 6th chapter: Quality of Life. After all, what good is it for your potential school to rank high in the “School Runs Like Butter” category while simultaneously topping the “Least Happy Students” category?

The top 10 Colleges in the “Happiest Students” category were listed as Rice University, Clemson University, Brown University, Stanford University, Bowdoin College, Loyola Marymount University, Penn State University, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Pomona College, and University of Mississippi.

Military schools and tech./engineering schools dominated the top 20 “Least Happy Students” category. The top 10 included New Jersey Institute of Technology, Maryland University, United States Merchant Marine Academy, United States Coast Guard Academy, Montana Tech. of the University of Montana, Clarkson University, United States Naval Academy, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Illinois Institute of Technology, and City University of New York- Baruch College.

Where did your college/potential college fit in this year? Would the rankings sway your application decision? Did the additional categories contribute or detract from the book’s advice? Comment and let us know your thoughts and visit the complete list by The Princeton Review here.