{"id":8020,"date":"2025-08-16T02:09:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T02:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=8020"},"modified":"2025-08-16T02:09:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T02:09:19","slug":"12-il-schools-named-to-princeton-reviews-best-colleges-list-patch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=8020","title":{"rendered":"12 IL Schools Named To Princeton Reviews Best Colleges List – Patch"},"content":{"rendered":"


ILLINOIS \u2014 Princeton College Review just released its ranking of the 391 best colleges in America, and 12 are in Illinois.
The schools on the 2026 Best Colleges<\/a> list aren\u2019t 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.
They are also published in The Best 391 Colleges: 2026 Edition (Penguin Random House, $26.99), which went on sale Tuesday.
According to the rankings, the schools from Illinois named are:
All the ranking lists are based on The Princeton Review\u2019s surveys of students attending the schools in the book who rate their own colleges on dozens of topics and report on their campus experiences at them. The rankings are based on data from the company’s surveys of 170,000 students at the 391 schools in the book (about 435 per school on average). The surveys were conducted in 2024\u201325 and\/or the previous two academic years. <\/p>\n

RELATED: These 11 Illinois Universities Ranked Among Best In World<\/a><\/em>
The rankings are based entirely on students\u2019 opinions of them, Rob Franek, The Princeton Review\u2019s editor-in-chief and the book\u2019s lead author, said in a news release.
\u201cWe don\u2019t rank colleges based on our opinion of them, nor would we crown a school \u2018best\u2019 overall. It is what the students attending the colleges in this book tell us about their experiences at their schools that determines on which lists the schools appear in our book.\u201d
A new ranking list \u2014 Most Politically Moderate Students \u2014 was added to the project this year in consideration of the rising political polarization in the country. It, as well as two related lists that have long been in the book \u2014 Most Politically Liberal Students and Most Politically Conservative Students \u2014 is based on a survey question that asks students their assessment of their personal political views.
Among colleges from Illinois on the list that received high marks in specific categories were:
A special feature in the new edition of the book identifies colleges in the book with compelling distinctions based on data from The Princeton Review’s institutional survey for the project. Among them are:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe colleges we profile in our ‘Best Colleges’ book are a truly select group. They constitute only about 15 percent of America’s nearly 2,400 four-year institutions,\u201d Franek said. \u201cWhile they vary by locale, type, size, and campus culture, each one offers its students an academically outstanding undergraduate education. In our opinion, they are the nation’s best undergraduate colleges and ideal choices for students seeking their \u2018best-fit\u2019 college.\u201d
RELATED: These Are The Best Colleges In IL For 2025, Wall Street Journal Says<\/a><\/em>
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.<\/a><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ILLINOIS \u2014 Princeton College Review just released its ranking of the 391 best colleges in America, and 12 are in Illinois.The schools on the 2026 Best Colleges list aren\u2019t 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. They are<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8020\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}