The Princeton Review has honored TCU as one of the best colleges in the West and included it in “The Best 376 Colleges” 2012 Edition.

The 121 colleges that The Princeton Review chose for its "Best in the West" list are located in 15 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The Princeton Review also designated 220 colleges in the Northeast, 153 in the Midwest, and 135 in the Southeast as best in their locales on the company’s "2012 Best Colleges: Region by Region" lists. Collectively, the 629 colleges named "regional best(s)" constitute about 25% of the nation's 2,500 four-year colleges.

Says Robert Franek, Princeton Review's Senior VP / Publisher, "We're pleased to recommend TCU to users of our site as one of the best schools to earn their undergrad degree. We chose it and the other terrific institutions we name as 'regional best' colleges mainly for their excellent academic programs. From several hundred schools in each region, we winnowed our list based on institutional data we collected directly from the schools, our visits to schools over the years, and the opinions of our staff, plus college counselors and advisors whose recommendations we invite. We also take into account what students at the schools reported to us about their campus experiences at them on our 80-question student survey for this project. Only schools that permit us to independently survey their students are eligible to be considered for our regional 'best' lists."

For this project, The Princeton Review asks students attending the schools to rate their own on several issues -- from the accessibility of their professors to quality of the campus food -- and answer questions about themselves, their fellow students, and their campus life. Comments from surveyed students are quoted in the school profiles on The Princeton Review site. The Princeton Review explains the basis for each ranking list in the book and at www.princetonreview.com/college/college-rankings.aspx.

Only about 15% of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges and three colleges outside the U.S.A. are profiled in the book, which is The Princeton Review's flagship college guide. 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.