Choosing the right college isn’t just about picking a place to study – it’s about setting the stage for your future, building your network, and discovering who you want to be.
Every year, The Princeton Review gives a glimpse into the schools that students and parents are dreaming about, asking thousands across the U.S. to spill the tea on their top picks. For 2025, over 7,000 students and more than 2,000 parents weighed in, and the results paint an interesting picture.
STUDENTS’ TOP THREE DREAM SCHOOLS
MIT ranked as the No. 1 dream school for students, and No. 2 among parents. MIT also landed at No. 2 in the most recent U.S. News undergraduate ranking. The school’s calling card is Engineering, where it ranks as America’s top school in Aerospace, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering.
Next, the No. 2 dream school among students was Harvard University. Parents in the study ranked this school at No. 4 – with U.S. News pegging Harvard as the 3rd-best undergraduate program.
In third place for students’ dream schools is Stanford University. Parents agreed with students on this one – the school also landed at No. 3 for them. When it comes to U.S. News, Stanford ranked 4th, along with finishing as the top undergraduate programs for Economics, Psychology, and Computer Science.
Among parents, Princeton University was listed as the top dream school. However, parents didn’t include the University of Pennsylvania and UCLA on their Top 10 list, which finished 9th and 10th among parents. In contrast, students didn’t include two of their parents’ favorites: Duke University and the University of Texas.
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