KINGS POINT, N.Y., August 12, 2025 - Today, The Princeton Review announced The Best 391 Colleges for 2026, and the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) is one of the Nation's best undergraduate institutions according to the education services company.

Only about 15% of America’s nearly 2,400 four-year colleges are included in The Princeton Review guidebook. The company chose the colleges for the book based its surveys of 2,000 college administrators about their institutions’ academic offerings. The company also surveyed students who rated their schools on dozens of topics and reported on their campus experiences at them.

Captain James R. Zatwarnicki, Jr., USMS, Provost (Acting) said, “We are proud to once again be recognized by The Princeton Review as one of America’s best colleges. This recognition reflects the dedication of our faculty, staff, and midshipmen to academics, leadership and service and highlights our mission to develop leaders of exemplary character who serve the Nation in peace and war.”

"The United States Merchant Marine Academy has outstanding academic programs and the feedback we received about USMMA 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 "USMMA one of our Best Colleges for 2026 and to recommend it to students searching for their ‘best-fit’ college.”

The Princeton Review does not rank the schools in The Best 391 Colleges hierarchically from 1 to 391.

The Best 391 Colleges has 50 categories of ranking lists: each list names the top 25 schools (of those in the book) 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.

USMMA appears on the following ranking lists in The Best 391 Colleges: Best Value Colleges, Best Northeast, The Best 391 Colleges, and Tuition-Free Schools

Information on the methodology for the rankings and the student survey is on The Princeton Review’s website.

The Princeton Review tallies rating scores (from 60 to 99) for the schools in The Best 391 Colleges in eight categories. The ratings are primarily based on institutional survey data. A few rating scores also factor in student survey data.  The rating scores are published in the profiles of the schools in the book as well as in the website profiles. 

Details about The Princeton Review Best Colleges for 2026 project—the school names, profiles, ranking lists, and rating scores—are posted on PrincetonReview.com.

# # #

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, located in Kings Point, N.Y, educates and graduates licensed merchant mariners and leaders of exemplary character who will serve America’s marine transportation and defense needs in peace and war. The U.S. Merchant Marine is administered by the Department of Transportation.