Choosing the right college is tough for anyone, but the process often feels nearly impossible for student-athletes. In addition to typical considerations such as academics and campus life, athletes must also look at athletic success, tradition, culture, scholarships and more.

To make life easier for student-athletes, STACK partnered with Niche, one of the world’s most popular college ranking services. After examining data and surveying more than 75,000 students, Niche compiled a list of the best schools for student-athletes.

The rankings below reflect averages of Niche’s academic and athletic grades for each school. Their academic grade is based on factors such as acceptance rate, SAT/ACT scores, graduation rate and research expenditures. Their athletic grade takes into consideration student opinions, NCAA championships, sports attendance and percentage of students playing varsity sports.

Check out our chart of the 50 best colleges for athletes below, and find an expanded list of  top 100 Schools at Niche.com, where you can also view detailed rankings for these categories:

• Non-D-I Schools
• Men’s Sports
• Women’s Sports
• Football Programs
• Men’s Basketball Programs
• Women’s Basketball Programs