The Princeton Review has named Southwestern University as one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduates in the 2025 edition of their annual college guide, The Best 390 Colleges.

Southwestern’s inclusion is led, in part, by the award-winning Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD). The Princeton Review ranked Southwestern #2 in the nation, and #1 in the state of Texas, in their “Best Career Services” category, the University’s highest-ever ranking, up from #5 nationally last year. SU is also acknowledged in the publication’s unranked lists of Best Value Colleges, Best Southwest Colleges, and Best Green Colleges.

“We salute Southwestern University for its outstanding academics and many other impressive offerings,” The Princeton Review’s Editor-in-Chief and lead author of The Best 390 Colleges Rob Franek said. “We recommend it as an ideal choice for students searching for their ‘best-fit’ college.”

In their profile on Southwestern, The Princeton Review editors praise the University’s liberal arts education, which they state “emphasizes the Paideia system of learning, such that students come to identify interdisciplinary relationships between what they are studying and how it relates to the world in terms of understanding and problem-solving.”

Southwestern faculty are lauded for going “out of the teaching norm to engage students, from having classes outside to creating activities and assignments for students to have a more hands-on and memorable experience.” The University’s 11:1 student-to-faculty ratio is credited with creating “a wonderful learning environment in which students are comfortable asking questions, going to office hours, and getting the specific help that they need.”

Only about 15% of America’s 2,600 four-year colleges are profiled in The Best 390 Colleges. Colleges are chosen based on data that The Princeton Review colleges annually from surveys of 2,000 college administrators about their institutions’ academic offerings. The education services company also reviews data from its survey of college students attending the schools who report on their experiences at their institutions.

Headquartered in New York City, The Princeton Review is an education services company known for its tutoring, test-prep, admission services, books, and other learning resources and is not affiliated with Princeton University.