The annual college ratings by The Princeton Review has named West Virginia University as the top Party School and Princeton University leads in the category of happiest students with regard to financial aid, reports Sacramento Bee.

In the 2013 edition of 'The Best 377 Colleges', TPR combined and assessed the responses of 122,000 students of 377 colleges to rank Top 20 schools in 62 categories which includes 'Best Campus food', 'Top Stone-Cold Sober Schools', 'Most Religious Students', 'LGBT friendly' among others. The added attraction this year is the availability of the book in electronic format which costs less than the traditional one. They are available for sale from Tuesday.

Politics seems to be the flavor of the season as elections are just round the corner. And the TPR hasn't left it out of the rankings. According to the ratings, The American University in D.C has 'The Most Politically Active Students' and the school with 'Most Conservative Students' is Texas A&M University while Bard College, New York tops the 'Most Liberal Students' list.

"Each of our 377 best colleges offers outstanding academics," said Robert Franek, the book's author and Princeton Review Senior VP / Publisher to Sacrament Bee.

He also added: "We don't rank them 1 to 377, because they differ widely in their program offerings and campus culture, and that is their strength. Instead, we tally lists of the top 20 schools in 62 categories based entirely on what students at these schools tell us about their campus experiences. Our goal is not to crown one college 'best' overall, but to help applicants find and get in to the college best for them."

Though criticized by many educational experts for its methodologies and categories, TPR annual college rankings is one of the most popular ranking systems since its commencement in 1992.

Here are some of the categories listed in the book and the schools that topped each list, as reported by the Bee.

  • Most Beautiful Campus - Florida Southern College (FL)
  • Best Administered College - Elon University (NC)
  • Best Career Services - Northeastern University (MA)
  • Best Campus Food - Bowdoin College (ME)
  • Best College Dorms - Washington University in St. Louis (MO)
  • Happiest Students - Rice University (TX)
  • LGBT-Friendly - Emerson College (MA)
  • Most Religious Students - Brigham Young University (UT)
  • Best Town-Gown Relations - Clemson University (SC)
  • Top Stone-Cold Sober Schools - Brigham Young University (UT)
  • Top Party Schools - West Virginia University
  • Students Pack the Stadium - University of Notre Dame (IN)
  • Best Athletic Facilities - U.S. Military Academy (NY)