The Princeton Review and The Daily Beast, among others, have gone about ranking colleges in terms of students satisfaction rather than rank.

If you are going to go through all the work of applying and paying for college (not to mention actually attending school and graduating in 4 years!), then it’s definitely an advantage to study somewhere that makes you feel happy.

From campus to community, organizations to facilities, party scene to community service options, there are many ways a great college can set itself apart and earn a coveted top spot on the happiest-colleges list.

Most organizations pay attention to freshman retention rate (the number of students that choose to return sophomore year), but The Daily Beast also takes into account the students’ overall experience, whether they’d do it again, and how they rate the campus health center - because healthy means happy!

So here goes!

5. Washington and Lee University

Lexington, VA

Freshman Retention: 95%

Experience: 7.3

If I could do it all over again: 8.8

4. Harvard

Cambridge, MA

Freshman Retention: 97%

Experience: 9.7

If I could do it all over again: 8.9

3. MIT

Cambridge, MA

Freshman Retention: 98%

Experience: 10

If I could do it all over again: 9.2

2. Brown University

Providence, RI

Freshman Retention: 98%

Experience: 10

If I could do it all over again: 9.2

1. Stanford

Stanford, CA

Freshman Retention: 98%

Experience: 10

If I could do it all over again: 9

But honestly, all of the colleges on these lists score so high, you’re likely to be happy with any of them! Thanks for reading 🙂

Additional Resources: “Winning College Scholarships for High Schoolers” Video Course

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