16 Virginia Colleges Make Princeton Review’s 2023 Best List

VIRGINIA — Sixteen colleges in Virginia 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; 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 Virginia colleges that made the 31st annual list are:

• Randolph-Macon College, Ashland (15th in Best Career Services)
• Virginia Tech, Blacksburg (11th in Best Campus Food)
• University of Virginia, Charlottesville (17th in Best College Newspaper)
• George Mason University, Fairfax
• University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg
• Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney (5th in Best College Library)
• Hampton University, Hampton
• James Madison University, Harrisonburg
• Randolph College, Lynchburg
• University of Lynchburg, Lynchburg
• Christopher Newport University, Newport News (7th in Best College Dorms)
• University of Richmond, Richmond (10th in Best Quality of Life)
• Hollins University, Roanoke
• Roanoke College, Salem
• Virginia Wesleyan University, Virginia Beach
• William & Mary, Williamsburg (5th in Their Students Love These Colleges)

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.