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Rankings Name Top 25 Colleges in 50 Categories Based on 168,000 Students' Ratings of Their Schools
NEW YORK, Aug. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Princeton Review®—one of the nation's leading education services companies—has reported its 2025 Best Colleges rankings.
The rankings posted today on PrincetonReview.com and appear in the just-published 2025 edition of the company's college guide, The Best 390 Colleges (Penguin Random House, $26.99, on sale August 27).
Cover, The Princeton Review's Best 390 Colleges: 2025 Edition
Based on college students' ratings of their schools, the company's unique rankings name the top 25 colleges in 50 categories. Among them are: Great Financial Aid, Profs Get High Marks, Best Campus Food, and Best Career Services. Of interest in this election year are four politics-related categories: Most Conservative Students, Most Liberal Students, Most Politically Active Students, and Least Politically Active Students. Check the summary below to see which colleges earned the #1 spot on these ranking lists and others in the book.
Unlike rankings that focus on academics and that are based on institutional data and college administrators' opinions of peer schools, The Princeton Review's Best Colleges rankings are in multiple categories and based solely on the company's surveys of students attending the schools in its annual Best Colleges book. The survey asks them to rate their colleges on dozens of topics and report on their experiences at them.
"The colleges we profile in our book are truly a select group: they constitute about 15% of America's four-year institutions. We chose them primarily based on our high opinion of their academic offerings," said Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief of The Princeton Review and author of The Best 390 Colleges. "The colleges that make our book's ranking lists do so entirely as a result of the opinions of their customers—students attending the colleges—who complete our 89-question survey about their school."
For the 50 ranking lists in The Best 390 Colleges, The Princeton Review tallied surveys of 168,000 students—about 430 per school on average. The surveys were conducted in 2023–24 and/or the previous two academic years. Information on the survey, ranking methodology, and basis for each category list is at PrincetonReview.com here.
Some of The Princeton Review's 50 categories of Best Colleges ranking lists and the #1 college on them for 2025 are:
Professors Get High Marks — Sarah Lawrence College (NY)
Best Classroom Experience — Wellesley College (MA)
Best-Run Colleges — High Point University (NC)
Great Financial Aid — Skidmore College (NY)
Best Career Services — Bentley University (MA)
Best Student Support and Counseling Services — University of Richmond (VA)
Best Health Services — University of Virginia
Best Campus Food — University of Massachusetts—Amherst
Best College Dorms — Bowdoin College (ME)
Most Beautiful Campus — University of San Diego (CA)
College City Gets High Marks — American University (DC)
Most Politically Active Students — Claremont McKenna College (CA)
Least Politically Active Students — State University of New York at Geneseo
Most Conservative Students — Thomas Aquinas College (CA)
Most Liberal Students — Mount Holyoke College (MA)
Most Religious Students — Hillsdale College (MI)
LGBTQ-Friendly — Reed College (OR)
Lots of Greek Life — Bucknell University (PA)
Lots of Race/Class Interaction — Rice University (TX)
Friendliest Students — Kansas State University
"Since 1992, when we debuted this annual book, its ranking lists have been informed by the opinions of more than three million college students who have completed our surveys about their schools over the years. Our purpose in publishing our rankings remains singular: to help college applicants choose the school best for them," Franek added.
A new feature in The Best 390 Colleges is a list titled Eight Statistical Stand-Out Schools for 2025. It highlights colleges with exceptional statistics related to cost, debt, and financial aid. (These were key concerns among 10,800 college applicants and parents The Princeton Review surveyed earlier this year for its College Hopes & Worries 2024 Survey.) Based on data from the company's 2024 institutional survey, the feature names the schools in the book that are stand-outs for:
Lowest Annual Tuition & Fees
Public School: University of South Florida $6,410 (in-state)
Private School: William Jewell College (MO) $20,610
Lowest Average Undergraduate Debt
CUNY—Baruch College (NY) $5,012
Highest Average Need-Based Scholarships
Princeton University (NJ) $71,864
This feature also reveals the schools in the book with the Highest 4-year Graduation Rate; Most Diverse Student Body; and Most Countries Represented (among the student body). A pdf of the feature is at PrincetonReview.com.
Today, The Princeton Review also reported the findings of its College Administrator Summer 2024 Survey. Conducted from July 19 to August 6, the survey polled administrators at schools in The Best 390 Colleges and those in the company's Best Regional Colleges website feature. The survey asked administrators about their fall enrollment forecasts and admission test requirements as well as their opinions on trending issues. Among them: DEI programs and policies, the use of AI in admissions, and this year's FAFSA® fiasco. A release on the findings is posted in The Princeton Review Media Center. It has a link to an infographic depicting selected findings and a downloadable report on the survey.
About The Best 390 CollegesThe book includes narrative profiles with information on the colleges' enrollment, admission, and aid application requirements, acceptance rates, admitted students' test scores, and student body demographics as well as quotes from students attending the schools. The profiles also include The Princeton Review's Inside Word about the college and ratings (scores from 60 to 99) in eight categories including Financial Aid and Admissions Selectivity. A QR code on each profile connects the reader to the college profile on PrincetonReview.com. The book's chapter of 50 categories of ranking lists also includes college rankings the company reported earlier this academic year. Among them are its Best Value Colleges, Best Colleges for Game Design, and Best Colleges for Entrepreneurship Studies. The book's introduction includes a list of Great Schools for 21 of the Most Popular Undergraduate Majors. It is based on enrollment data from the company's institutional survey and opinions of the 26 members of The Princeton Review's 2024–25 National College Counselor Advisory Board.
The Best 390 Colleges is one of more than 150 books developed by The Princeton Review and published by Penguin Random House. Other college-related books in the line include Paying for College (2025 edition forthcoming September 17, 2024), Essays That Kicked Apps (September 2023), The K&W Guide to Colleges for Students with Learning Differences (16th edition September 2023), and The Ultimate Guide to HBCUs (July 2022).
About The Princeton ReviewThe Princeton Review is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admissions services company. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate school–bound students as well as working professionals achieve their education and career goals through its many education services and products. These include online and in-person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors; online resources; more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House; and dozens of categories of school rankings. Founded in 1981, The Princeton Review is now in its 43rd year. The company's Tutor.com brand, now in its 24th year, is one of the largest online tutoring services in the U.S. It comprises a community of thousands of tutors who have delivered more than 27 million tutoring sessions. The Princeton Review is headquartered in New York, NY. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University.
For more information, visit PrincetonReview.com and the company's Media Center. Follow the company on X (formerly Twitter) @ThePrincetonRev and Instagram @theprincetonreview.
THE BEST 390 COLLEGES: 2025 Editionby Robert Franekwith David Soto, Stephen Koch, Aaron Riccio, Laura Rose, and The Staff of The Princeton ReviewPenguin Random House • $26.99 ($36.99 CAN) • August 27, 2024 • 896 pages • ISBN 9780593517505
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WEBSITE: www.princetonreview.com
SOURCE The Princeton Review
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