Its 50 college "rankings" are popularity lists built from self-selected student opinion surveys, not measures of quality; the method is transparent and not for sale, but critics say small per-school samples make it more vibe than verdict.
What it's really for A test-prep company; the college lists come from student surveys, and the money is in prep courses.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its survey-based 'Best Colleges' lists, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
Students and parents buying test prep, tutoring, and books are the paying customers; by the company's own disclosure, colleges cannot pay to appear on a ranking list, which is "entirely the result of what its own students reported."
Source →- Operating since
- 1981 (45 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- It makes money from test-prep courses, private tutoring, admissions counseling, and guidebooks sold to students and families, not from the colleges it ranks.
- What they do
- It publishes 50 annual "Best Colleges" ranking lists derived entirely from a 98-question survey of current students at the included schools.
- What to watch for
- It does not measure academic quality or outcomes and only ranks the ~390 schools it already chose to include, so a school's absence from a list says little, and critics note per-school samples can be a few hundred self-selected students.
- Composite score
- 3.40 / 5.00 → grade B
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- The Princeton Review states its rankings come entirely from student surveys and that no list reflects its own opinion: a college's appearance is 'entirely the result of what its own students surveyed by The Princeton Review reported about their campus experiences,' with no mention of colleges paying for placement. Source: Princeton Review ranking methodology page →
- Founded in 1981 by John Katzman (and Adam Robinson); ownership passed through Charlesbank, IAC/Tutor.com, and ST Unitas before Primavera Capital Group acquired it in January 2022. Revenue comes from test prep, tutoring, admissions counseling, and guidebooks. Source: The Princeton Review - Wikipedia →
- Critics argue the per-school sample (an average of roughly 426 students) is too small to represent large student bodies, and that only ~390 of nearly 4,000 US colleges are eligible, producing 'objective rankings formed from subjective opinions.' Source: College Reality Check - Can You Really Rely on The Princeton Review Rankings? →