Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. According to Princeton Review, Vanderbilt has the happiest students in the country, based on student surveys.
If you want to know which college has the best professors, career services, dorms or financial aid, Princeton Review has a list for that.
If you want to know where students drink the most beer — or where the keg is more likely to be canceled altogether — it has lists for those, too.
The education services company released its Best 392 Colleges: 2027 Edition this month, its 35th annual guide to what students actually think about their colleges. Rather than stack schools into one overarching ranking, Princeton Review names the top 25 colleges in 50 different categories spanning academics, financial aid, campus life, politics, social scenes and more.
The rankings are based on surveys of 172,000 students at 392 colleges, or about 439 students per school. Students answered 98 questions about their academic and campus experiences.
As we did last year, Poets&Quants For Undergrads pulled out some of the lists most likely to interest parents — and some their college-bound kids may find a bit more relevant.
FOR THE PARENTS
Bentley University once again lands at No. 1 for Best Career Services, while Washington and Lee University tops Great Financial Aid. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering has the country’s highest-rated professors, according to students, while MIT students apparently spend more time hitting the books than anyone else.
| Category | No. 1 School | City, State |
|---|---|---|
| Best Career Services | Bentley University | Waltham, MA |
| Great Financial Aid | Washington and Lee University | Lexington, VA |
| Professors Get High Marks | Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering | Needham, MA |
| Students Study the Most | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, MA |
| Best Health Services | University of Chicago | Chicago, IL |
| Best Student Support & Counseling Services | Macalester College | St. Paul, MN |
For parents and the particularly studious freshmen, Reed College earns the top spot for Best Classroom Experience, Middlebury College for Most Accessible Professors, and Brigham Young University for Best College Library.
AND FOR THE STUDENTS
Now for the categories prospective students might be more interested in.
Bowdoin College has the country’s best college dorms, according to its students. University of Massachusetts Amherst tops Best Campus Food, while University of San Diego has both the Most Beautiful Campus and Best Quality of Life.
Vanderbilt University gets perhaps the most enviable campus-life distinction: It ranks No. 1 for both Happiest Students and Their Students Love These Colleges.
| Category | No. 1 School | City, State |
|---|---|---|
| Happiest Students | Vanderbilt University | Nashville, TN |
| Best College Dorms | Bowdoin College | Brunswick, ME |
| Best Campus Food | University of Massachusetts Amherst | Amherst, MA |
| Best Quality of Life | University of San Diego | San Diego, CA |
| Friendliest Students | William & Mary | Williamsburg, VA |
| Lots of Hard Liquor | Tulane University | New Orleans, LA |
| Lots of Beer | Colby College | Waterville, ME |
| Reefer Madness | Skidmore College | Saratoga Springs, NY |
| Pot’s Not Hot | United States Naval Academy | Annapolis, MD |
Tulane University maintains the distinction of leading Lots of Hard Liquor, the same category it topped in last year’s guide. Colby College, meanwhile, takes the beer crown.
At the other end of the party spectrum, Brigham Young University tops both Cancel the Keg and the wonderfully named Scotch and Soda, Hold the Scotch.
A new category in the 2027 edition is Great Outdoors: Students Get Outside. The No. 1 spot goes to The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.
The category joins rankings measuring everything from school spirit and community service to political leanings. Texas Christian University has the Most Politically Conservative Students, according to the survey, while Bennington College has the most liberal. Manhattan University tops the relatively new Most Politically Moderate Students list.
HOW PRINCETON REVIEW COMPILES ITS RANKINGS
To put these lists in context, it’s important to understand what these rankings are and what they aren’t.
Unlike traditional college rankings that combine factors such as graduation rates, admissions selectivity, faculty resources or post-graduation earnings, Princeton Review’s 50 lists are based entirely on student opinions.
Each ranking names 25 schools from the 392 featured in the guide. The rankings use responses from student surveys conducted during the 2025–2026 academic year and, depending on the category, the two previous academic years as well. The company deliberately does not name one overall “best college.”
Instead, the book offers in-depth profiles on colleges and universities with stats like admissions requirements, financial aid data, test scores, student body demographics, and eight Princeton Review ratings, from Admissions Selectivity to Financial Aid.
Fifty-five schools in the guide now charge tuition of $70,000 or more, while 43 charge $10,000 or less. Nine are tuition-free.
Brigham Young University has the lowest total cost of attendance among private colleges in the book at $17,476, while the University of Montana–Missoula has the lowest in-state cost among public colleges at $18,420. The calculation includes tuition, books, required fees, and room and board.
Princeton University awards the highest average need-based scholarship among private colleges at $80,837. Among publics, the University of Virginia leads at $37,354.
FROM 4% ACCEPTANCE TO 99%
The guide also underscores just how dramatically admissions odds vary across its schools. The average acceptance rate among the 392 colleges was 57% for fall 2025, and nearly two-thirds — 245 colleges, or 63% — admitted at least half of their applicants.
At the extreme ends, Caltech, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and the University of Chicago each had acceptance rates of about 4%. The University of South Dakota’s was 99%.
UCLA received the most applications of any public college in the guide, at 145,086, while New York University led private colleges with 114,125.
Arizona State University has the guide’s largest undergraduate enrollment among public universities at 63,906. Brigham Young University is the largest private, at 32,952.
FROM BEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER TO LOTS OF GREEK LIFE
Other No. 1 finishers in the 2027 guide include:
- Best College Newspaper: Columbia University
- Best College Theater: Elon University
- Best Athletic Facilities: Colby College
- Students Love Their School Teams: Ohio State University
- Students Most Engaged in Community Service: Marquette University
- Lots of Greek Life: Wofford College
- Best College Radio Station: Seton Hall University
- College City Gets High Marks: Columbia University
- Town-Gown Relations Are Great: Denison University
- LGBTQ-Friendly: University of Vermont
- Most Religious Students: Brigham Young University
- Least Religious Students: Mount Holyoke College
Full rankings for all 50 categories are available at PrincetonReview.com.
DON’T MISS: PRINCETON REVIEW’S 2026 BEST COLLEGES: TOP SCHOOLS FOR PROFESSORS, CAREER SERVICES — AND EVEN ‘HARD LIQUOR’
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