SUNY Purchase Named to Princeton Review’s Best Colleges for 2027

SUNY Purchase has been named to The Princeton Review’s The Best 392 Colleges: 2027 Edition, with the guide singling out the college’s “Think Wide Open” spirit, hands-on conservatory training, and strength across the liberal arts and sciences.

The guide profiles a select group of U.S. four-year colleges each year, and this year’s edition also ranks SUNY Purchase No. 3 in the nation on the Best College Theater list—a nod to the acclaimed Conservatory of Theatre Arts, derived from how the students rate the college’s theater productions.

More Than a Motto

Our profile suggests our motto, Think Wide Open, perfectly captures the campus ethos and how our curious, unconventional, and civic-minded student body shows boundless creativity.

The profile also points to the senior project requirement as something that sets Purchase apart and how students genuinely look forward to conducting original, self-directed work.

One student described the chance to explore and find “new ways to think about things, from science to art to management.”

So Much Happening

Students also report that campus life bustles with activity, noting weekly email digests of events, and with White Plains and NYC nearby, there’s always something to do. 

A student reviewer notes, “The question isn’t ‘What to do for fun?’ but rather ‘Where do you even start?’”

A Place for Everyone

Our profile commends the campus community’s overall “sense of unity and acceptance” and our student body as “free to be themselves and can ‘walk around confident in who they are.’”

Purchase in Practice

The Princeton Review captures what makes Purchase unique, dating back to the college’s founding: rigorous conservatory training and a rigorous liberal arts and sciences education aren’t opposites—they’re one education.

This recognition confirms what students already find here: a supportive, welcoming community with room to specialize deeply and think broadly at the same time.

More proof? Learn more about Studio Composition major Abel Garcia’s story of connecting with film professor Alan McIntyre Smith, who teaches Music Video Production, which turned into collaborating with student filmmakers and dance majors to produce his first music video.

Note: The Princeton Review site does not reflect the recently adopted name change to SUNY Purchase.