Back-to-school season has returned in full force, and that means it's time for college rankings. Two Houston universities in particular are being hailed as the top of the class for 2027.

The high caliber schools — Rice University and University of Houston — earned new acclaim in The Princeton Review's ranking of the "Best 392 Colleges" for 2027.

The Princeton Review's 35th annual "Best Colleges" rankings are determined by a survey of 172,000 current college students that gave "candid feedback" about their schools and their experiences. The flagship guide does not rank the schools overall, but it does rank them across 50 different categories, including best-run colleges, best quality of life, happiest students, best athletic facilities, among others.

In all, 14 Texas institutions were highlighted in the overall list of the 392 best colleges.

Schools don't pay to be included in the guide, but The Princeton Review clarified that schools could pay for a "featured" designation. No Houston university paid to be featured in this year's guide. Trinity University in San Antonio and Southwestern University, a private school in the Austin suburb Georgetown, were the only two Texas schools that paid to be "featured."

Rice and UH have been on a winning streak in separate reports of the best universities worldwide, best graduate schools, and best online degree programs.

In addition to being included in the overall list, Rice was highlighted as one of the Best Value Colleges, Colleges That Create Futures, and it earned high marks in Princeton Review's Mental Health Honor Roll 2026. The home of the Rice Owls also starred in the regional Best Southwest list that contained 41 universities across Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

"Rice University stands out as a leading research university where academic diversity and a wide array of interdisciplinary institutes and centers make it easy for students to explore multiple areas of interest," the school's profile says. "At Rice, 'knowledge isn’t siloed — students are constantly crossing disciplines and interests in ways that feel natural rather than exceptional.'"

Rice earned the following rankings on 14 other lists:

• No. 1 – Lots of Race/Class Interaction
• No. 3 – Best College Newspaper
• No. 9 – Friendliest Students
• No. 11 – Best Quality of Life
• No. 13 – Great Financial Aid
• No. 14 – Top 50 Best Value Private Colleges
• No. 17 – Their Students Love These Colleges
• No. 18 – Top 20 Best Value Private Colleges Without Aid
• No. 18 – Best Student Support and Counseling Services
• No. 19 – Best College Dorms
• No. 21 – Students Study the Most
• No. 24 – Best Campus Food
• No. 24 – Best College Radio Station
• No. 24 – Best-Run colleges

UH earned five more accolades:

• No. 1 – Top 50 Undergraduate Schools for Entrepreneurship Studies
• No. 1 – Top Undergraduate Schools for Entrepreneurship Studies in the Southwest
• No. 8 – Most Politically Moderate Students
• No. 15 – Financial Aid Not So Great
• No. 42 – Top 50 Best Value Public Colleges

"Students confirm that 'the research and other academic opportunities... are very accessible to students who seek it out,'" the profile says. "This includes taking advantage of UH’s vast alumni network (more than 325,000 and counting), not to mention its location in the corporate center of Houston, where 'the opportunities that are provided are immense.'"

The 12 other public and private universities in Texas included in The Princeton Review's 2027 guide are:

• The University of Texas at Austin
• Southwestern University, Georgetown
• Baylor University, Waco
• Texas A&M University - College Station
• Trinity University, San Antonio
• Texas State University, San Marcos
• Angelo State University, San Angelo
• Texas Christian University, Fort Worth
• University of Dallas, Irving
• Southern Methodist University, Dallas
• The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson
• Austin College, Sherman

A version of this story originally appeared on CultureMap.com.