Princeton University scored straight A's and became the top university in the Forbes' top colleges list released Wednesday.

The New-Jersey based school was immediately followed by Williams College in Massachusetts and Stanford University of California.

"Princeton does well across the board," said Michael Noer, Forbes executive editor.

With about 5,200 undergraduates and an annual total cost of $53,934, Princeton had the highest freshman to sophomore retention rates, and Noer said the school also did well in the prominence of their alumni.

"Despite being a pretty expensive place, they have the seventh-lowest debt rate on the list and the fifth-highest graduation rate," Noer added in an interview to Reuters. "They just kicked it across the board."

The rankings, released online are reportedly appearing in the Aug. 20 edition, were prepared for the publication by the Center for College Affordability & Productivity, a Washington D.C. not-for-profit research group.

The rankings assessed the colleges based on their graduation rates, student outcomes and satisfaction, low levels of debt, post-graduate success and number of competitive awards such as fellowships that students have won. The rankings "do not attempt to assess a school's reputation, nor are they a measure of academic selectivity," the magazine said on its website.

The University of Chicago and Yale University rounded out the top five colleges in the list.

Forbes, working with LinkedIn Corp., also looked at which schools had the most entrepreneurial alumni. That is, highest number of alumni who have started companies with at least 10 employees. Stanford University came out on top, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Forbes ranked 650 American colleges in all. Here are the top 10:

1. Princeton University, N.J.

2. Williams College, Mass.

3. Stanford University, Calif.

4. University of Chicago, Ill.

5. Yale University, Conn.

6. Harvard University, Mass.

7. U.S. Military Academy, N.Y.

8. Columbia University, N.Y.

9. Pomona College, Calif.

10. Swarthmore College, Penn.

The complete list can be viewed here- https://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/