Two Dozen MA Colleges Make Princeton Review's 2023 Best List

MASSACHUSETTS — In a state packed with prestigious colleges, universities and technical schools, it can be hard to choose the best higher education institutions in Massachusetts.

But with the release this week of The Princeton Review’s “Best 388 Colleges: 2023 Edition," we have an idea which ones are the cream of the crop with 26 local schools included.

The 388 colleges on the list aren’t ranked; however, the top 25 colleges were ranked in 50 categories designed to help guide those making college choices to institutions that best fit their academic and personal needs.

For the first time, the categories include “green matters,” which names the colleges students give high marks for their commitment to the environment and conservation on their campuses.

The Massachusetts colleges that made the 31st annual list are:

• Clark University, Worcester
• Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley
• Emerson College, Boston
• Brandeis University, Waltham
• Bentley University, Waltham
• Assumption University, Worcester
• Northeastern University, Boston
• Simmons University, Boston
• University of Massachusetts-Amherst
• Williams College, Wiliamstown
• College of the Holy Cross, Worcester
• Babson College, Wellesley
• Harvard College, Cambridge
• Wellesley College, Wellesley
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
• Gordon College, Wenham
• Boston College, Brookline
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute
• Tufts University, Medford
• Suffolk University, Boston
• Amherst College
• Boston University
• Wheaton College, Norton
• Stonehill College, Easton
• Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Needham
• Smith College, Northampton

The list is based on 160,000 student surveys that asked 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. Read more about the methodology.

This year, The Princeton Review expanded the number of colleges ranked for excellence in the categories to 25 from 20, and also dropped the “schools by type” ranking titled Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians, and its inverse list, Future Rotarians and Daughters of the American Revolution.

The Princeton Review also dropped its Party Schools and Stone-Cold Sober Schools this year.