It’s that time of year again–when your Facebook feed is full of people’s posts bragging about their university’s ranking in US News’ annual list of best colleges. The latest edition, which has become very influential in creating and reinforcing the reputations of many schools, was released early this morning. The rankings have become increasingly more specific over the years–there’s actually now multiple lists, such as: “Most Innovative Schools, “Best Value Schools,” “Most Campus Ethnic Diversity” and “Most Students Studying Abroad,” among others.
The main rankings, “Best National Universities” and “Best National Liberal Arts Colleges,” are based on 16 categories, including graduation rates, freshman retention rates and acceptance rates. As in past years, Princeton is once again the top university, while Williams College has maintained its place at the top of the list of liberal arts colleges. Princeton has also been named “best value” university (Amherst College is the best value liberal arts school, according to US News).
Here are the Best National Universities:
1. Princeton University
2. Harvard University
3. Yale University
4. Columbia University (tie)
4. Stanford University (tie)
4. University of Chicago (tie)
7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
8. Duke University
9. University of Pennsylvania (tie)
9. California Institute of Technology (tie)
10. Johns Hopkins University
The US News rankings are highly respected and very influential on the general opinions people form about schools, but it’s interesting to think about the limitations of trying to quantify how “good” a school is. The rankings do not include schools that specialize in a particular area, such as the arts or engineering. It also seems like freshman retention rates are used as a means of studying the happiness levels or quality of life of students, but is that really an accurate way of measuring something so subjective?
Colleges and universities are all so different from one another, and everyone is looking for something different out of their college experience. Do you think a school’s ranking on a list really gives an accurate picture of how good it is? (You can check out the complete rankings here).