The Princeton Review’s “Best 388 Colleges for 2023” Rankings Are Out:
Top Colleges in 50 Categories Based on 160,000-Student Survey

NEW YORK, August 17, 2022 / — The Princeton Review®—one of the nation’s leading education services companies—today released its 31st annual Best Colleges ranking lists.

The company’s Best Colleges rankings for 2023 name the top 25 colleges in 50 categories including a new category titled Green Matters. It names the colleges at which students report the most robust commitment to the environment and conservation on their campus. Check the summary below to see which college earned the top spot on that list and which colleges came in #1 on other high-interest category lists. The complete ranking lists are posted on The Princeton Review’s website where they can be viewed here.

In categories that span academics, amenities, school services, campus culture, extracurriculars, and more, these unique lists are based on The Princeton Review’s surveys of 160,000 students attending the 388 schools in its flagship college guide, The Best 388 Colleges, the 2023 edition of which will be released August 23 (Penguin Random House, $24.99). The 50 lists of top 25 colleges comprise a full chapter in the book.

“Since 1992, when we debuted our multiple ranking lists as an alternative to a single academics-only mega list, our mission has been to give students a more useful resource to find the best college for them,” said Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief of The Princeton Review. Franek, who is lead author of The Best 388 Colleges, added, “Our selection of the colleges in this book is based on our opinion of their academic offerings. We recommend each one as an academically outstanding choice for an applicant. Our ranking lists, however, are not based on our opinions of the colleges. They’re entirely based on what the schools’ own students have told us about their experiences at them.”

The Princeton Review's 85-question survey asks students to rate their professors, administrators, school services, and other aspects of life at their colleges and to report on their campus and community experiences. Surveys of 160,000 students (about 400 per college on average) were tallied for the rankings lists for 2023. The surveys were conducted in 2021-22 and/or the previous two academic years. Information on the survey process and methodology for the ranking lists is on The Princeton Review’s website where it can be viewed here.

Twenty of the fifty categories of ranking lists, and the #1 college on the lists

  • Best Professors — Reed College (OR)
  • Most Accessible Professors — Williams College (MA)
  • Best-Run Colleges — Rice University (TX)
  • Great Financial Aid —Vanderbilt University (TN)
  • Best Career Services — Clemson University (SC)
  • Best Health Services — United States Air Force Academy (CO)
  • Best Student Support and Counseling Services — United States Military Academy (NY)
  • Best Science Lab Facilities — Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (IN)
  • Best College Library— University of Denver (CO)
  • Most Beautiful Campus — University of San Diego (CA)
  • Best College Dorms — Washington University in St. Louis (MO)
  • Best Campus Food — University of Massachusetts Amherst (MA)
  • Green Matters: Everyone Cares About Conservation — College of the Atlantic (ME)
  • Most Politically Active Students — Hampden-Sydney College (VA)
  • Most Conservative Students—College of the Ozarks (MO)
  • Most Liberal Students—Bennington College (VT)
  • Most Religious Students— Thomas Aquinas College (CA)
  • LGBTQ-Friendly — Mount Holyoke College (MA)
  • Lots of Race/Class Interaction — Rice University (TX)
  • Happiest Students—Tulane University (LA)

This year, The Princeton Review expanded the number of colleges on the lists to 25 (from 20) and trimmed the number of list categories to 50 (from 62). Among the dropped lists are four formerly in the ranking group, “Schools by Type.”  They are the list titled Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians, and its inverse list, Future Rotarians and Daughters of the American Revolution. Also dropped are the list, Party Schools, and its inverse list, Stone-Cold Sober Schools. The Princeton Review previously retired the other lists in the “Schools by Type” group: Dodgeball Targets, and its inverse list, Jock Schools. Over the years, the company has periodically added new lists and dropped old ones as campus cultures have evolved, college applicant interests have changed, and The Princeton Review’s survey and data collection process has been refined.

The Best 388 Colleges’ two-page profiles give readers information on admission and financial aid application requirements, enrollment stats, quotes from surveyed students about the school’s academics and student body, and The Princeton Review’s “Inside Word” about the school. The profiles also present the company’s ratings (scores from 60 to 99) of the colleges in eight categories including Financial Aid, and Admissions Selectivity. New to this edition is a QR code on each profile that connects the reader directly to The Princeton Review’s profile of the school on PrincetonReview.com, and from it to the school’s website. 

The Best 388 Colleges is one of more than 150 books developed by The Princeton Review and published by Penguin Random House. The line includes guides to standardized tests, study aids, and other college-related books including the recently published College Admission 101 (3rd edition, May 2022), The Ultimate Guide to HBCUs (July 2022), and the forthcoming 2023 edition of the annually updated guide, Paying for College (September 2022).

Today, The Princeton Review also reported findings of its Summer 2022 College Administrator Survey. The July 1 to 26 survey polled administrators at colleges in the company’s Best 388 Colleges guide as well as schools it designated as Regional Best colleges for 2023. The 15-question survey asked the administrators about their institution’s fall instructional formats (in-class, online or hybrid?), admission test policies, COVID protocols, enrollment forecasts, views on the Digital SAT®, and more. A release on the survey findings is posted in The Princeton Review Media Center.

 

About The Princeton Review

The 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 achieve their education and career goals through its: 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 41st year. The company’s Tutor.com brand, now in its 21st 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 21 million one-to-one 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 Twitter (@ThePrincetonRev) and Instagram (@theprincetonreview).

 

THE BEST 388 COLLEGES: 2023 Edition

by Robert Franek with David Soto, Stephen Koch, Aaron Riccio, and Laura Rose

Penguin Random House • Trade paperback $24.99 (Canada $33.99) • August 23, 2022 • 880 pages

ISBN 978-0593450963

SAT® is a trademark registered and owned by the College Board, which is not affiliated with and does not endorse The Princeton Review or its offerings.

SOURCE: The Princeton Review
WEBSITE: www.princetonreview.com

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CONTACT: Jeanne Krier, Publicist for The Princeton Review, PressOffice@review.com

NOTE TO EDITORS: Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief, The Princeton Review, and author of The Best 388 Colleges, and David Soto, Senior Director of Data Operations, and co-author of the book, are available for interviews. Reporter resources are at https://www.princetonreview.com/press/best-colleges-presskit. They include a “By the Numbers” fact sheet about this project, a reference sheet showing the 50 ranking list categories and #1 schools on each list, and a high-res jpeg of the book’s cover. Breakout lists showing colleges in the book (and any ranking lists they made) are viewable at https://secure.princetonreview.com/media-best-colleges in two versions: alphabetical by college, and alphabetical by state/city/college.

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