9 NJ Colleges Make Princeton Review’s 2023 ‘Best’ List

NEW JERSEY — Nine higher-education institutions in New Jersey are among the nation’s 388 best, according to The Princeton Review’s "Best 388 Colleges: 2023 Edition."

The 388 colleges on the list aren’t ranked. But 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. But no New Jersey universities made the 25-school list.

In New Jersey, nine schools made the "Best 388 Colleges" list:

• The College of New Jersey (TCNJ)
• Drew University
• Monmouth University
• New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)
• Princeton University
• Rider University
• Rutgers University-New Brunswick
• Seton Hall University
• Stevens Institute of Technology

TCNJ, Drew, NJIT, Princeton and Stevens were named "Best Value Colleges," which includes 209 schools — also unranked.

According to the lists, Princeton University doesn't have as much going on with beer and cannabis, ranking eighth in the "Pot's Not Hot" category and 16th on the "Cancel the Keg" list. But the institution ranks 14th in terms of hard liquor. (Princeton University is not affiliated with The Princeton Review.)

New Jersey colleges also made some other lists of note in The Princeton Review:

• "Financial Aid Not So Great:" TCNJ (third).
• "Lots of Race/Class Interaction:" Drew University (21st).
• "Least Politically Active Students:" NJIT (21st).
• "Most Liberal Students:" Princeton (21st).
• "College Dorms Not So Fancy:" Stevens (ninth), Rider (10th).
• "College City Gets High Marks:" Stevens (10th).

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.