--- title: Princeton Review Ranks Top Schools in 2018 description: From the party schools to the prettiest campuses, the Princeton Review has released its annual college rankings. canonical: https://time.com/4882407/princeton-review-2018-colleges/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-01T17:16:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:46:03.664Z og:title: The Most Surprising Rankings of the Princeton Review 2018 List og:description: From the top party schools to the prettiest campuses og:url: https://time.com/4882407/princeton-review-2018-colleges/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc28179e1d320714a/6988d7fc22fb85d322e2234e/yale-old-campus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6912 og:image:height: 3888 og:image:alt: Yale University,New Haven County,Connecticut,Usa og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Most Surprising Rankings of the Princeton Review 2018 List twitter:description: From the top party schools to the prettiest campuses twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc28179e1d320714a/6988d7fc22fb85d322e2234e/yale-old-campus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Most Surprising Results From Princeton Review's 2018 Top College Ranking > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 1, 2017 5:16 PM UTC  Yale University,New Haven County,Connecticut,Usa Yale University,New Haven County,Connecticut,Usa Topic Images Inc.—Getty Images/Topic Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 1, 2017 5:16 PM UTC Each year, the [Princeton Review compiles](https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/best-colleges#ListItem3) its extensive lists of higher education rankings across 382 colleges. While it’s helpful to consider some traditional measures of a college’s value (the standard of best classroom experience, for instance, goes to the U.S. Military Academy for 2018), the company also usefully breaks things down into 62 granular categories that should help students find a better fit. The results come from a survey of over 137,000 students nationwide. For instance, the hardest studiers can apparently be found at California’s tiny [Harvey Mudd College](http://time.com/money/4147738/colleges-women-higher-acceptance-rate/item/1-harvey-mudd-college/), one of the Claremont schools best known for its engineering programs. Meanwhile, according to the survey, the students who tend to lay off the books, are at St. John’s University in New York, where studying takes a backseat to other pursuits. The happiest students are at Nashville’s [Vanderbilt](http://time.com/4726635/most-beautiful-college-every-state/item/vanderbilt-university-in-tennessee/), an idyllic, 7,000-student campus in the heart of the south. On the other end of the spectrum, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy took the top slot for least-happy students. Looks like protecting the coasts comes at a cost. But what about those campuses? For 2018, the Princeton Review has determined that the seaside University of California San Diego wins the pageant prize as beauty queen; given its Pacific Ocean views, warm weather, and a whimsical library designed by Theodore Geisel — also known as Dr. Seuss — it’s hard to argue. And it looks like the kids are hitting those books hard at Harvey Mudd for a reason, as their campus unfortunately tops the list as least-beautiful. Finally, the ranking we’ve all been waiting for: party schools. This year, it’s [Tulane University](http://time.com/4787502/helen-mirren-speech-tulane-university-commencement-graduation-2017/) in New Orleans that snags the win, beating out West Virginia University, Bucknell, and Syracuse for the dubious crown of a debaucherous reputation. (University of Wisconsin-Madison slips to number five). Perhaps to no surprise, the Mormon-associated institution of [Brigham Young University](http://time.com/money/4480684/best-colleges-for-business-majors/item/brigham-young-university/) in Utah fills out the flip side as the most “stone cold sober” campus of the bunch. The takeaway, perhaps, is that there’s a school for every student — and that it’s not always about a big-name brand. (Ivy League colleges don’t find themselves in any of the main lists for academics, quality of life, or financial aid, in fact.) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4882407/princeton-review-2018-colleges/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4882407/princeton-review-2018-colleges/"},"headline":"The Most Surprising Results From Princeton Review's 2018 Top College Ranking","datePublished":"2017-08-01T17:16:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:46:03.664Z","description":"From the party schools to the prettiest campuses, the Princeton Review has released its annual college rankings.","url":"https://time.com/4882407/princeton-review-2018-colleges/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Education","College","Higher Education"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc28179e1d320714a/6988d7fc22fb85d322e2234e/yale-old-campus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc28179e1d320714a/6988d7fc22fb85d322e2234e/yale-old-campus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Yale University,New Haven County,Connecticut,Usa","caption":"Yale University,New Haven County,Connecticut,Usa","creditText":"Topic Images Inc.—Getty Images/Topic Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4882407/princeton-review-2018-colleges/","name":"The Most Surprising Results From Princeton Review's 2018 Top College Ranking"}}]}] ```