Webb Institute is one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company features the school in the new 2017 edition of its flagship college guide, “The Best 381 Colleges” (Penguin Random House / Princeton Review, $23.99, August 30, 2016).

Only about 15% of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges are profiled in the book, which is one of The Princeton Review’s most popular guides. Published annually since 1992, it includes detailed profiles of the colleges with rating scores for all schools in eight categories, plus ranking lists of top 20 schools in the book in 62 categories based on The Princeton Review’s surveys of students attending the colleges.

“Webb Institute’s outstanding academics are the chief reason we chose it for this book and we strongly recommend it to applicants,” says Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s Senior VP-Publisher and author of “The Best 381 Colleges”. “We make our selections primarily based on data we collect through our annual surveys of administrators at several hundred four-year colleges. Additionally, we give considerable weight to observations from our school visits, opinions of our staff and our 24-member National College Counselor Advisory Board, and an unparalleled amount of feedback we get from our surveys of students attending these schools. We also keep a wide representation of colleges in the book by region, size, selectivity and character.”

President R. Keith Michel comments, “We are pleased that the Princeton Review has again acknowledged Webb’s commitment to excellence in education, by selecting Webb as one of its 381 Best Colleges.”

In its profile on Webb Institute, The Princeton Review praises it for its “admissions committee, who are dedicated to finding students who will excel in the school’s rigorous program” and quotes extensively from Webb Institute students the company surveyed for the book. Among their comments: “the winter work terms give each student a feel for industry sectors and allow them to make improved career decisions when selecting and first job”, “You’ll learn something in the classroom and then see it in action”, and that students “become best friends very quickly, giving everyone great support systems both academically and socially.”

The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges from 1 to 381 in any category. Instead it uses students’ ratings of their schools to compile 62 ranking lists of top 20 colleges in the book in various categories. The lists in this edition are entirely based on The Princeton Review’s survey of 143,000 students (about 375 per campus on average) attending the colleges. The 80-question survey asks students to rate their schools on several topics and report on their campus experiences at them. Topics range from their assessments of their professors as teachers to opinions about their school’s library, career services, and student body’s political leanings. The Princeton Review explains the basis for each ranking list at http://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/ranking-methodology.

The schools in “The Best 381 Colleges” also have rating scores in eight categories that The Princeton Review tallies based on institutional data it collected during the 2015-16 academic year and/or its student survey for the book. The ratings are scores on a scale of 60 to 99 and they appear in each school profile. Rating categories include: Academics (98), Admissions Selectivity (97), and Fire Safety (98), a measure of school’s commitment to the sustainability and the environment in its policies, practices and education programs. The Princeton Review explains the basis for each rating score in the book and at http://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/college-ratings

 Webb Institute is on the following ranking lists in “The Best 381 Colleges”:

#7 Best-Run Colleges

#12 Students Study the Most

 In a “Survey Says” sidebar in the book’s profile on Webb Institute, The Princeton Review lists topics that Webb Institute students surveyed for the book were in most agreement about in their answers to survey questions. The list includes: “students are happy”, “classroom facilities are great,” and “internships are widely available.”