9:54 a.m., Aug. 3, 2010----“Everything college should be.” That's how one student describes the University of Delaware in the 2011 edition of The Princeton Review's annual college guide, The Best 373 Colleges. UD also has been named one of the best colleges in the Northeast in a section of The Princeton Review's website, “2011 Best Colleges: Region by Region.”

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About 15 percent of the nation's 2,500 four-year colleges and two Canadian colleges are profiled in The Best 373 Colleges, published Aug. 3 by Random House.

In addition to providing detailed profiles of the colleges with scores in eight categories, the guide lists the top 20 schools in 62 categories, and UD is ranked 16th in the category “Most Popular Study Abroad Program.” These lists are entirely based on The Princeton Review's survey of 122,000 students (about 325 per campus on average) attending the colleges in the book and not on its own opinion of the schools.

Robert Franek, author of The Best 373 Colleges, noted that outstanding academic programs are the primary criteria for selection of schools for the book.

Franek, who is also Princeton Review's senior vice president/publishing, said, “Our choices are based on institutional data we collect about schools, our visits to schools over the years, feedback we gather from students attending the schools, and the opinions of our staff and our 28-member National College Counselor Advisory Board. We also work to keep a wide representation of colleges in the book by region, size, selectivity and character."

“The University of Delaware is truly an East Coast Classic,” said David Brond, UD vice president for communications & marketing. “It provides our students with the quintessential college experience -- top academic offerings taught by world-class faculty members on a beautiful campus in the heart of the mid-Atlantic region. UD's inclusion in The Best 373 Colleges clearly demonstrates how students feel: There's simply no other option like it.”

In the guide's area on academics, the University of Delaware is praised for its school spirit, academics, beautiful campus, responsive faculty, approachable administration and “vibrant campus life.”

The section on student life notes that UD offers “the perfect balance of academic intensity and excellent social life,” with special note of the range of events on campus, intramural and varsity sports, student organizations and a lively Main Street.

Students are characterized as sharing “an incredible enthusiasm for their school community” and being “focused on academics,” but the guide notes that the typical student also “loves to have fun on the weekends.”

In a "Survey Says" sidebar, the guide lists topics that UD students surveyed most agreed about. The list includes “Great computer facilities” and “Great library.”

The Princeton Review has posted the school profiles and ranking lists in The Best 373 Colleges at PrincetonReview.com. The schools in The Best 373 Colleges are also part of a group of 623 colleges in its website highlighting the best colleges by region.

The Best 373 Colleges, the 19th edition of The Princeton Review's annual "best colleges" book, is one of about 165 Princeton Review books published by Random House. The Princeton Review, which is not affiliated with Princeton University, is not a magazine.