List reveals the 52 best colleges in America

The Daily Caller ranked schools based on attractiveness, social life, etc.

University of Virginia claims the top spot.

As the 2014-2015 school year commences, high school seniors are preparing to make one of the biggest decisions of their lives: where they will attend college.

The Daily Caller (DC) has released its list of the 52 best colleges in America with a rating system that takes into account “absolutely everything that matters.”

The DC looked at 400 colleges and ranked them based on eight categories they deemed most critical in attaining “the best bang for your buck,” including: overall academic rating, professor-quality rating, four-year graduation, and an admission rating (the harder the school is to get into, the higher the rating).

The next four criteria look beyond academic standards and consider the social experience: social life, student-attractiveness, a combined rating for the campus and surrounding area, and lastly the dreaded cost of tuition and fees rating.

The ratings range anywhere from 0.00-4.00, based on the traditional GPA scale.

Although the competition was fierce, the University of Virginia exceeded the rest with an unprecedented score of 28.10. Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, and Lehigh University are in a three-way tie for last place with a score of 24.50.

Tuition and fees were measured by the cost of the college’s in-state tuition . The ratings also do not include the cost of room and board or textbooks.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @MaggieLitCRO