The company profiles Austin College in the new edition of its annual college guide, The Best 392 Colleges (August 18, 2026, Penguin Random House) as well as its website feature about the book and the 50 categories of ranking lists it includes.
The Princeton Review chose the 392 colleges for the book based on its 2025-2026 surveys of 2,000 college administrators about their school's academic offerings. The company also surveyed students attending the colleges in the book who rated their schools on dozens of topics and reported on their campus experiences. (Only about 14% of America’s nearly 2,800 four-year colleges are in the book.)
“We are delighted to name Austin College one of our Best Colleges for 2027 and we recommend it to students searching for their ‘best-fit’ college,” said Rob Franek, The Princeton Review's Editor-in-Chief and lead author of The Best 392 Colleges. “Austin College has outstanding academic programs. We also took into account the candid feedback we received about it from its very own customers—its enrolled students,” he added.
The Best 392 Colleges has 50 categories of ranking lists. Each list names the top 25 schools (of those in the book) in a particular category. (The Princeton Review does not rank the schools hierarchically, on a single list from 1 to 392.)
The rankings are entirely based on the company's surveys of students attending the schools in the book who reported on their campus experiences at their schools. Surveys of 172,000 students (about 439 per school on average) were tallied for the rankings in The Best 392 Colleges.
Austin College appears on the following ranking lists in The Best 392 Colleges: Best Value Colleges, Best Southwest, and Green Colleges.
Information on the methodology for the rankings and the student survey is published in the book and on The Princeton Review’s website here.
Austin College, a private national liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas, has earned a reputation for excellence in academic preparation, pre-professional foundations, committed faculty, and hands-on, adventurous learning opportunities. One of 45 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges That Change Lives, Austin College boasts a welcoming community that embraces diversity and individuality, with more than 50 percent of students identifying as persons of color. The residential student body of approximately 1,300 students and an expert faculty of more than 100 educators allow an 11:1 student-faculty ratio and personalized attention. Related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA), Austin College cultivates an inclusive atmosphere that supports students’ faith journeys regardless of religious tradition. The College, founded in 1849, is the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original name and charter.
