Editor's Note: This article has been updated for the August 25 print edition of The Justice.

On Aug. 3, Brandeis University was named the top college in the nation for “Students Most Engaged in Community Service” in a list by the Princeton Review. This was the first time the company has put out a list on this topic. Brandeis placed first among 380 colleges and universities that participated in the rankings.

The rankings were based on student responses to the question “How engaged are you in community service?” according to Jeanne Krier, a publicist for Princeton Review Books, in an email to the Justice. An average of 358 students per campus respond to the survey, though the number of students who respond “varies widely from school to school,” according to Krier.

The survey is based on a five-point Likert scale, in which respondents answer each question with a ranking on a scale of five different options. The most recent edition of the survey, for example, asks respondents whether they Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Agree or Strongly Agree with the given statement, “Students are committed to Community Service.”

The list appears in the Princeton Review’s 2016 edition of “The Best 380 Colleges” which went on sale on Aug. 4. Brandeis also placed 20th on the list of “Most Liberal Students” and 16th on the list of “LGBTQ-Friendly.” The lists only show results for the top 20 schools in each category.

In an email to the Justice, Director of the Department of Community Service Lucas Malo wrote that “the sustainable growth that we have made over the years is inspiring and fuels our work and best practices as Brandeis partners with both local and global organizations.”

One of the most recent service projects in which Brandeis students were heavily involved, according to Malo, was the Oct. 2014 completion of the Prospect Hill Community Center.

Working alongside Bentley University and several nonprofit organizations, Brandeis students helped purchase and renovate a 5,000 square-foot community center in Waltham’s largest low-income housing community, according to an Oct. 2013 Justice article. Students organized bake sales and other small-scale fundraisers, removed trash, installed a computer lab and built a playground, among other projects, according to Malo. The center now provides 5 days of after-school programming.

Community Service Specialist Brian Quigley wrote in an email to the Justice that the Department of Community Service partnered for the first time this summer with the Gateway Scholars Program, a program for incoming students who are non-native English speakers to practice oral and written communication. According to Quigley, the partnership was designed “to encourage incoming international students to get involved with community service early in their Brandeis career.”

More than 50 Gateway Scholars removed trash and invasive species from the banks of the Charles River and visited a local retirement home, according to Quigley.

Last semester, as part of a project for SOC 199b: Senior Sociology Capstone Seminar: Sociology and the World, Kelsey Segaloff ’15, Caitlin Buegeler ’15 and Sarah Eagle ’15 conducted a survey asking parents whose children participate in Waltham Group programs about their perceptions of the Waltham Group, according to Malo.

The survey results showed that 98 percent of parents found Brandeis students polite and respectful, while 96 percent described them as prepared, 89 percent described them as leaders, and 83 percent described them as inspiring, according to Malo.

Malo wrote to the Justice that he hopes to see “higher participation in reflections opportunities for students, an increased number of guest speakers and trainings for students, and an increased participation in the Commitment to Service Award Program.”

Quigley added in a separate email that “students go out into the community, meet amazing people, and learn new perspectives, and I would love to see this knowledge serve as the foundation for discussions on campus that challenge students’ ways of thinking.”