The Princeton Review Names Purchase College One of the Nation’s Best for 2026

Purchase College, State University of New York (SUNY), has been selected for inclusion in the Princeton Review’s annual college guide, The Best 391 Colleges (Penguin Random House, 2025).

As the Princeton Review points out, only about 15% of America’s 2,400 four-year colleges are profiled in their book. The Princeton Review chooses colleges by their academic reputation based on surveys of college administrators across the country. Other information in the guide is based on data from surveys of college students attending the schools who report on their experiences at their institutions.

The guide praises Purchase for its vibrant campus, creative culture, accepting community, engaged faculty, and wide range of hands-on programs with one student saying, “We’re all about finding new ways to think about things, from science to art to management.”

Purchase College President Michael E. Steiper, PhD, who just stepped into his new role this week said, “I’m thrilled to see Purchase College recognized for the “rich and exciting” educational opportunities that we provide to our students across the arts and the liberal arts and sciences. Our rankings reflect the creativity and dedication of our faculty, staff, and students and they affirm the value of a Purchase College education. I look forward to welcoming prospective students interested in all that Purchase has to offer.”

“Purchase College has outstanding academic programs and the feedback we received about Purchase from its students we surveyed was very impressive," said Rob Franek, The Princeton Review's Editor-in-Chief and lead author of The Best 391 Colleges. "We are delighted to name Purchase one of our Best Colleges for 2026 and to recommend it to students searching for their ‘best-fit’ college.”

The Best 391 Colleges has 50 categories of ranking lists: each list names the top 25 schools in a particular category. The rankings are entirely based on company's surveys of students attending the 391 profiled schools. Surveys of 170,000 students (about 435 per school on average) were tallied for the rankings in The Best 391 Colleges.

Purchase appears on the following ranking lists in The Best 391 Colleges:

· Best Northeast Colleges

· Best College Theater

· Green Colleges

In addition, Purchase received high marks for its interesting and accessible faculty.

About Purchase College, SUNY

Purchase College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network of 64 universities and colleges, was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His aspiration for Purchase was to create a dynamic campus that combined conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with programs in the liberal arts and sciences, in order to inspire an appreciation for both intellectual and artistic talents in all students. Today, Purchase College, SUNY is a community of students, faculty, and friends where open-minded engagement with the creative process leads to a lifetime of intellectual growth and professional opportunity. For more information about the College, visit www.purchase.edu.