2 Baltimore Colleges On Princeton Review’s ‘Best 385’ List

BALTIMORE, MD —The Princeton Review has released its annual list of the 385 best colleges, which includes two in Baltimore. Johns Hopkins University and Loyola University of Maryland made it onto the list, along with nine other colleges in Maryland.

"We chose the 385 colleges for this edition as our 'best' overall, academically, based on data we gathered in 2018–19 from more than a thousand school administrators about their schools' academic programs and offerings," Princeton Review's editor-in-chief Robert Franek said in a press release. "We are well aware, however, that applicants need more than an academic assessment to choose the colleges best for them."

To that end, the Princeton Review also ranked colleges across categories like academics and quality of life, based on student surveys.

Here's what earned bragging rights for Baltimore colleges:

• Johns Hopkins University ranked 11th for "Best Science Lab Facilities."
• Loyola University of Maryland was 10th in the "Best College Dorms" category.

On the overall list of the best 385 colleges, the Princeton Review says the colleges aren’t ranked in order from No. 1 to No. 385. Colleges are ranked on the more specific lists like “best campus food,” “best college newspaper” and “party schools.” In all, there are 62 of these lists, and each list includes a ranking of the top 20 colleges in that category.

These Maryland colleges are on the overall best 385 schools list:

• St. Johns College, Annapolis
• United States Naval Academy, Annapolis
• Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
• Loyola University, Baltimore
• Goucher College, Baltimore County
• UMBC, Baltimore County
• Washington College, Chestertown
• University of Maryland, College Park
• Salisbury University, Salisbury
• St. Mary's College, St. Mary's City
• McDaniel College, Westminster

Princeton Review says the colleges on the best 385 list are selected primarily based on the organization’s “high opinion of their academics.” It analyzes more than 2,000 schools and collects feedback from students, educators, parents and advisors. The 62 specific lists that rank the top 20 schools in each category are compiled using a student survey.

"Our survey asks the students about their professors, administrators, school services, campus culture, and other facets of life at their schools," Franek said.

Here's where the colleges ranked on the individual lists:

• Ranked 10th in Best College Dorms

• University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore

• No individual category rankings

• Washington College, Chestertown

• No individual category rankings

• University of Maryland, College Park, College Park

• Ranked 9th in Least Accessible Professors
• Ranked 11th in Professors Get Low Marks

• Salisbury University, Salisbury

• Ranked 3rd in Least Accessible Professors

• St. Mary's College of Maryland, St. Mary's City

• No individual category rankings

Read the full Princeton Review methodology and see the schools ranked in each of the 62 lists.

— By Patch editors Feroze Dhanoa, Elizabeth Janney and Deb Belt