Hey OP:

The author of the Handbook went to Brown.

I had an original copy and it was my bible

But it was never meant to have anything to do with academics for crying out loud.

It was tennis and finishing and boarding schools and Speery topsides, monograms, LL Bean duck boots, duck phones, etc

Sweet Briar almost shut down completely from lack of funds and enrollment lags. Hopkins is all female too.

Let me guess : you are the same poster that turned to Vogue magazine for a historical article on “prestige” colleges (a fashion magazine) and now are going to a preppy parody book.

I suggest you look for academic literature.

Anonymous wrote:"The College of Your Choice"

The Top Ten

Princeton
Hamilton
[/b]U of Virginia
St. Lawrence
Babson
[b]Hampden-Sydney
Lake Forest
Sweet Briar
Hollins
Pine Manor (SATs N.A.)

The Runners Up

Amherst
Reed
Williams
Georgetown
Colorado College
Trinity (CT)
Colby
Vassar
Connecticut College
Wheaton (MA)

Note: While these schools appeared alphabetically in the original, they’re listed above in order of the included SAT profiles for an indication of how these colleges may have changed across time.

Sweet Briar and Hollins were dumb rich girls
Hampden-Sydney - dumb rich boys

They were never known to be academic.

You realize the Preppy Handbook was about what kids wore on campus, etc

The book was mostly humor.

I surprised that Reed was ever on the list. I do know preppies who went there but they were the serious druggies who dropped out to follow the Dead and are now carpenters in Oregon.

Anonymous wrote:"The College of Your Choice"

The Top Ten

Princeton
Hamilton
U of Virginia
St. Lawrence
Babson
Hampden-Sydney
Lake Forest
Sweet Briar
Hollins
Pine Manor (SATs N.A.)

The Runners Up

Amherst
Reed
Williams
Georgetown
Colorado College
Trinity (CT)
Colby
Vassar
Connecticut College
Wheaton (MA)

Note: While these schools appeared alphabetically in the original, they’re listed above in order of the included SAT profiles for an indication of how these colleges may have changed across time.

Good job missing the whole point of the book, I guess

I'm surprised Dartmouth isn't on the original list.

So funny. I knew a guy whose photo was in it. It was a joke and yet we were all quite serious about layering lacoste shirts one over the other.

Anonymous wrote:...and somehow, against all odds, hampden-Sydney survives! Churning out well behaved chubby boys for the past 200 years!

I had to look it up. I honestly had no idea all men’s colleges existed. Never crossed my mind.

I have my original copy somewhere. The second tier was the second tier because those people were actually going to have to work in school and wanted to, so they were not quite prep enough for lightweight Skip and Muffy.

Um, this book was humor.

Those rankings were supposedly of the “preppiest” schools, not the best schools. It was meant to be funny! I was in college at the time and we all thought it was a very funny book- almost as funny as the movie “Animal House,” which is also comedy.

Anonymous wrote:...and somehow, against all odds, hampden-Sydney survives! Churning out well behaved chubby boys for the past 200 years!

What a disturbing thing to say.

...and somehow, against all odds, hampden-Sydney survives! Churning out well behaved chubby boys for the past 200 years!

Love this! Super dated, but love to see how things have evolved.

What would this list look like in 2025?

"The College of Your Choice"

The Top Ten

Princeton
Hamilton
U of Virginia
St. Lawrence
Babson
Hampden-Sydney
Lake Forest
Sweet Briar
Hollins
Pine Manor (SATs N.A.)

The Runners Up

Amherst
Reed
Williams
Georgetown
Colorado College
Trinity (CT)
Colby
Vassar
Connecticut College
Wheaton (MA)

Note: While these schools appeared alphabetically in the original, they’re listed above in order of the included SAT profiles for an indication of how these colleges may have changed across time.