The Princeton Review's Company Look Back at 2025 and Look Ahead to 2026

NEW YORK, Dec. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Princeton Review^®, one of the nation's leading education providers, today shared its annual look back at some of the company's distinctions over the year and look ahead to some projects in the works for the year ahead.

In 2025, more than a million people—students, parents, educators, advisors, post-grads and others—used The Princeton Review's education resources, services, and products. Students used them to score their best on tests; master school projects; tackle homework assignments and improve their grades. Applicants to undergraduate and graduate institutions used them to research and gain admission to schools and maximize opportunities for financial aid and scholarships. Post-graduates used them to prepare for professional licensing exams and upskill for career advancement.

The Princeton Review's primary services and products in 2025 included:

• Test-prep courses  / Offered for dozens of tests, the courses are available in various formats from live online to in-person to self-paced. Some carry The Princeton Review Better Scores Money Back Guarantee.  Among the company's courses for tests taken by college applicants—the SAT^®, ACT^®, and AP^® subject exams—the company's SAT 1400+  course was one of the most popular this year. Among its courses for tests taken by applicants to graduate, law, business and medical schools—the GRE^®, GMAT^®, LSAT^®, and MCAT^®—the company's LSAT 170+ and MCAT 515+ courses were among the most popular. Among its courses for professional licensing and certification exams, its suite of resources for the NCLEX-RN^® (required for licensing as a Registered Nurse) was among the most popular.
  The company regularly updates its test-prep resources to reflect changes in the tests and to provide the most effective strategies for scoring one's best on them. In May, when the College Board completed the transition of 28 of its AP exams to fully digital or hybrid digital formats, The Princeton Review had a wide range of resources available to help students prepare for the new exams. In addition to its AP courses and tutoring, the company published guides to 20 AP digital subject tests with full length practice tests and additional practice questions. In September, when ACT, Inc. debuted the Enhanced ACT with a new digital option and a shorter testing format, The Princeton Review was ready with courses, tutoring, and guides to help students score their best on the new test.
  
  
• Tutoring / The Princeton Review's 4,000+ expert tutors are available in 250+ subjects to guide learners from K-12 through college, graduate school, and beyond via on-demand and online support as well as drop-off review. In 2025, two of the subjects for which the company received the most tutoring requests were Algebra-based Physics and Calculus. Through The Princeton Review's Academic Tutoring and Homework Help hub, tutors helped students tackle school assignments and improve study habits. Through its LiveOnline Academic Tutoring https://www.princetonreview.com/k12/academic-tutoring?ceid=nav-hshub, they helped students earn higher grades in school, and prepare for tests. The Princeton Review's affiliate company Tutor.com provided tutoring services to learners through its institutional partnerships with higher education organizations, libraries, K-12 schools, the U.S. Military and other institutions and organizations.
  
  
• Admissions Counseling / In 2025, students working with the company's college admissions counselors gained admission to highly selective colleges and universities including Columbia, Duke, Harvard, MIT, Northeastern, Princeton, Stanford, U-Penn, and Yale. A partnership this year with College Aid Pro broadened The Princeton Review's admissions counseling service options to include financial aid and college affordability planning services and tools. The Princeton Review also provided medical and dental school admissions counseling services. In recent years, students using its medical school counseling services who were invited for a school interview subsequently gained admission to top medical schools including Duke, George Washington U, St. Louis U, Vanderbilt, Yale, and the Mayo Clinic.
  
  
• Books / The Princeton Review's line of 150+ books, distributed by Penguin Random House, includes test-prep guides and college guides (some of which have been updated annually for 30+ years) as well as study aid books for elementary through high school students. In 2025, the company published the 40th edition of its primary guide to the SAT (which remains the only test-prep guide ever to become a New York Times bestseller), the 37th edition of its guide to the ACT, and the 34th edition of its college guide, The Best 391 Colleges. Its Paying for College guide which published in September in a 32nd edition is the only annually updated guide to college financial aid with guidance on completing the upcoming school year's FAFSA^® (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), a form all aid applicants must submit, and the College Board's CSS Profile^®, which hundreds of selective colleges require.  
  
  Other notable books the company published in 2025 include: The Princeton Review Enhanced ACT Premium Prep, 2026 Edition (which was #1 on Amazon's "Hot New Releases" bestseller list in the "College Entrance Test Guides" category), and The Princeton Review Digital SAT Premium Prep, 2026 Edition (which was #1 on Amazon's bestseller list in the "SAT Guides" category). Several of the company's Premium Prep guides to the new AP exams made Amazon's bestseller lists in the "College and High School Test Guides" category.
  
  
• AI Tools / Students using the company's AI College Admissions Essay Counseling and/or AI Homework Essay Feedback tools in 2025 were able to upload essays they had written and receive instant feedback, evaluation, and recommendations of ways to make their essays even better. Designed with input from the company's college admission and tutoring experts, these tools also provide instant feedback on coherence, conciseness, grammar, spelling, and punctuation. In 2025, the company also incorporated AI analytics into some of its classroom test-prep and academic services to customize learner experiences. 

In 2025, the company also:

• Reported school rankings in dozens of categories including

Top Undergrad and Grad Schools to Study Game Design (March)
Best Value Colleges (June)
Best Business Schools and Best Law Schools (July)
Best Colleges (August)
Top Green Colleges (October), and
Top Undergrad and Grad Schools to Study Entrepreneurship (November).

Since 1992, The Princeton Review school rankings have been uniquely based on the company's surveys of students attending the schools who rate and report on their campus experiences at them. The 2025 rankings were based on surveys of 225,000+ students and analyses of more than 80 survey data points.

• Conducted national surveys including

College Hopes & Worries 2025 Survey / Now in its 23rd year, the 2025 survey asked nearly 10,000 college applicants and parents of applicants 20 questions about their application experiences and perspectives. Among the findings: 73% of respondents overall reported high stress about their applications, and 79% said financial aid would be "very necessary" to pay for college. Asked, "Do you think college will be worth it?" 99% said yes. Asked what school would be their "dream" college—i.e., the school they wished they (or their child) could attend if acceptance was a certainty and cost inconsequential—the #1 "dream" college among surveyed students was MIT. The #1 "dream" college among surveyed parents was Princeton.

Campus Mental Health 2025 Survey / Since 2024, The Princeton Review has conducted this annual project in partnership with the Ruderman Family Foundation to promote and increase mental health services on college campuses and raise student awareness of them. The 2025 survey asked administrators at 540 colleges 56 questions about their schools' mental health services and students across 300 colleges four questions about their awareness of such services on their campuses. The 2025 survey findings revealed significant gains over the 2024 survey findings both in campus counseling, wellness, and student support services and in student awareness of them at their schools. In November, The Princeton Review added information it collected from 540 schools about their mental health services to its website profiles of the schools. The company also named 30 schools to the project's Mental Health Services Honor Roll for 2026. A full report on the project and survey findings is here. A video on the project is here.

• Provided free resources for students, parents, teachers, counselors and others

In 2025, The Princeton Review hosted thousands of free events from college night talks at more than 200 schools to online test-strategy sessions, full-length practice tests, and career-related professional webinars. The company also created dozens of videos it posted on its YouTube channel (which now features 650+ videos) and it reached a YouTube milestone: 100,000+ subscribers for which it received a YouTube Silver Creator Award. Some of the company's most-viewed YouTube videos in 2025 were: AP Tests Going Digital,  Early Decision vs. Early Action: The Strategy That Could Triple Your College Admission Odds, and 2026 Top Entrepreneurship Programs.

• Was referenced widely in broadcast, print, online, and social media 

In 2025, the company was referenced in more than 125,000 news and feature publications, broadcasts and websites as well as on many social media platforms. National media reached out to The Princeton Review many times for information on company projects and surveys as well as for comment and perspective on trending topics. Rob Franek, the company's editor-in-chief, was on NBC TODAY on March 4 and October 8 discussing college admissions and applications (the appearances marked his 34th and 35th time on TODAY over his career). Other national media that sourced him in 2025 included CNBC, and the Emmy-award winning syndicated show Teen Kids News. Regional, local, and campus media also reported on schools'  Princeton Review rankings, ratings and honors in 2025. Many of them are referencing those accolades in their 2025 end-of-year "look-back" releases.

• Achieved distinctions and received awards and recognition 

Tutor.com achieved a truly exceptional distinction in mid-November when It delivered its 29 millionth tutoring session. In April, the company was awarded a Tutoring Program Design Badge by Stanford University's prestigious National Student Support Accelerator for its High-Dosage Tutoring program. In October, Tutor.com won a 2025 CODiE Award in the category "Best Customer Experience Solution for Education" in recognition of its proprietary academic support platform LEO^®. Tutor.com was also a 2025 CODiE Award finalist in the category "Best Instructional Intervention Tool" for its high-dosage tutoring. The CODiE Awards, administered by the Software Information Industry Association, are the only peer-reviewed awards recognizing excellence in business and education technology.

Also of note though not The Princeton Review's first such distinction of its kind, and certainly not an award (though definitely a recognition), the company was in a Los Angeles Times crossword on March 31. The clue?  "Princeton Review subj." The answer? "PSAT"

Projects The Princeton Review has in the works for 2026 include:

• Updates of its test-preparation and college application/admission resources / Having updated its courses and guides for the revised 2025 ACT and APs exams, the company is updating its resources for tests slated for revision for 2026. Among them is the SHSAT^® (Specialized High School Admissions Test taken by New York City students) which will transition to a digital adaptive test in fall 2026. The Princeton Review's annual surveys of college and grad school administrators as well as of students are also underway. The company's editorial teams are also working on projects slated for publication in 2026 including the 2027 edition of The Best 392 Colleges, to be published in August. It will include updated school profiles and new rankings of the top 25 colleges in the book in 50 categories based on 170,000+ students' ratings of their schools. Paying for College, forthcoming in September in its 2027 edition, will feature detailed guidance on submitting the 2027–28 FAFSA as well as other financial aid forms to maximize eligibility for financial aid.

At AI Hub, a dedicated area on the company website, information will post on forthcoming resources from The Princeton Review inspired by "40+ years of experience infused into the latest technology."

"With AI and other advancing technologies transforming education services and delivery systems, much has changed since The Princeton Review's founding more than four decades ago," said Bob Batten, the company's Chief Executive Officer. "As our company enters its 45th year, however, the mission that inspired its innovative founding in 1981 remains as vital and relevant as ever. Our full team is dedicated to helping students learn the best way for them, reach their academic goals, and succeed in their chosen careers. We look forward to serving even more students in 2026 and we join with all who care about them and their ever-more promising futures."

About The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admissions services company. Every year, it helps millions of college-bound and graduate school–bound students as well as working professionals achieve their education and career goals through its many education services and products. These include online and in-person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors, online resources, a line of more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House, and dozens of categories of school rankings. Founded in 1981, the company is now in its 44th year. The company's Tutor.com brand, now in its 25th year, is one of the largest online tutoring services in the U.S. It comprises a community of thousands of tutors who have delivered more than 29 million tutoring sessions. The Princeton Review, headquartered in New York, NY, is not affiliated with Princeton University. For more information, visit PrincetonReview.com. Follow the company on Instagram (@theprincetonreview), LinkedIn (the-princeton-review), YouTube (@ThePrincetonReview), and TikTok (@princeton.review).

All tests are registered trademarks of their respective owners. None of the trademark holders are affiliated with The Princeton Review.

ACT^® is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc., which is not affiliated with The Princeton Review.

AP^® and SAT^® and are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse The Princeton Review.

FAFSA^® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Education.

GRE^® is a registered trademark of the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which is not affiliated with The Princeton Review.

LSAT^® is a trademark registered by Law School Admission Council (LSAC), which is not affiliated with The Princeton Review.

MCAT^® is a registered trademark of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), which is not affiliated with the Princeton Review.

NCLEX-RN^® is a registered trademark of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc.

PSAT/NMSQT^® is a registered trademark of the College Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

SHSAT^® is a registered trademark of the New York City Department of Education.

WEBSITE: www.princetonreview.com

SOURCE The Princeton Review