Rankings of universities in the United States

College and university rankings in the United States are rankings of US colleges and universities ordered by various combinations of various contributing factors which vary greatly depending on the organization performing the ranking. Rankings have most often been conducted by magazines, newspapers, websites, or academics. In addition to ranking entire institutions, organizations perform rankings of specific programs, departments, and schools. Various rankings consider combinations of measures of wealth, research excellence and/or influence, selectivity, student options, eventual success, demographics, and other criteria. There is much debate about rankings' interpretation, accuracy, usefulness, and appropriateness. The expanding diversity in rating methodologies and accompanying criticisms of each indicate the lack of consensus in the field.

Rankings

Acceptance rate (selectivity)

Selectivity—the percentage of applicants admitted (the lower the percentage, the more selective the college)—reflects both desirability (increasing the number of applicants), and competitiveness (how difficult it is to be accepted), although competitiveness also depends on the strength of fellow applicants instead of the number of people to be accepted alone.

Institution	Acceptance rate, 2016
Stanford University	4.7%
Harvard College	5.2%
Columbia University	6.0%
Yale College	6.3%
Princeton University	6.5%
University of Chicago	7.6%
MIT	7.8%
Brown University	9.0%
Pomona College	9.2%
Claremont McKenna College	9.4%
University of Pennsylvania	9.4%
Dartmouth College	10.5%
Duke University	10.5%
Vanderbilt University	10.5%
Northwestern University	10.7%
Johns Hopkins University	11.5%
Swarthmore College	12.5%
Amherst College	13.8%
Cornell University	14.0%
Tufts University	14.3%
Bowdoin College	14.3%
UC Berkeley	14.8%
Howard University	16.0%
Washington University in St. Louis	16.2%
Georgetown University	16.4%
Williams College	17.2%
University of Notre Dame	18.3%

Admissions yield

Yield—the percentage of admitted students who accept the offer and attend (the higher the better)—reflects the desirability of the school among those admitted to the school. Yield thus may reflect the academic prestige or reputation of the school, and/or other characteristics of the school that admitted students view as positive or attractive attributes. The following table lists some of the universities with the highest yields in the nation, for students entering in the fall of 2015 (yield figures with asterisk are 2014 figures, the latest available).

University	Admissions yield 2015
Stanford University	81.1%
Harvard University	80.0%
MIT	72.4%*
Yale University	71.7%*
Princeton University	68.6%
University of Pennsylvania	66%
Columbia University	62.2%*
University of Chicago	60%
Brown University	59.9%*
Dartmouth College	54.5%*
Cornell University	53.4%*
Pomona College	51%
Georgetown University	47.6%

Business Insider

Business Insider asks professionals which college they believe best prepares its students for success in life. The top three colleges in the 2014 survey were Stanford, MIT, and Caltech.

University	Score
Stanford University	4.15
MIT	4.12
Caltech	3.96
Princeton University	3.88
Harvard University	3.80

Council for Aid to Education

The Council for Aid to Education publishes a list of the top universities in terms of annual fundraising. Fundraising ability reflects, among other things, alumni and outside donor's views of the quality of a university, as well as the ability of that university to expend funds on top faculty and facilities. Most recent 2015 rankings put Stanford at the top, ahead of Harvard, USC, UCSF, and Cornell.

University	2015 Fundraising Total in $Millions
Stanford University	1630
Harvard University	1050
University of Southern California	653.03
University of California, San Francisco	608.58
Cornell University	590.64

The Daily Beast's Guide to the Best Colleges

The Daily Beast's college rankings take into account nine factors, with academics, future earnings, and affordability weighted most heavily. The other criteria include graduation rates, diversity, athletics, nightlife, activities, and campus quality. Data comes from The National Center for Education Statistics, as well as private organizations like PayScale, for salary data, and Niche, for student opinions. The Daily Beast's college rankings report the top 250 scoring schools, with Stanford University at the top, followed by Harvard University, Yale University, MIT, and Columbia University.

University	College ranking
Stanford University	1
Harvard College	2
Yale University	3
MIT	4
Columbia University	5
Princeton University	6
Cornell University	7
University of Pennsylvania	8

The Economist's "Best Colleges. The Value of University"

The Economist's college rankings The Economist Magazine's List of America's Best Colleges focuses on comparable economical advantages defined as 'the economic value of a university is equal to the gap between how much its students subsequently earn, and how much they might have made had they studied elsewhere'. Based on set of strict criteria sourced from U.S. Department of Education ('College Scorecard") with relevant 'expected earnings' and multiple statistics applied in calculation of 'median earnings' conclusive evaluation method has been applied to run the scorecard’s earnings data through a multiple regression analysis, a common method of measuring the relationships between variables.

Rank	Name
Washington and Lee University	1
Babson College	2
Villanova University	3
Harvard University	4
Bentley University	5
Otis College of Art and Design	6
Lehigh University	7
Alderson Broaddus University	8
Texas A&M International University	9
California State University	10

ETC College Rankings Index

The ETC College Rankings Index is published online by California-based nonprofit- Educate To Career. Educate To Career provides free online college and career planning tools based on educational attainment to career outcomes data. Uniquely, the ETC College Rankings Index ranks colleges based on the improvement in earnings and employ-ability that a grad derives from attending a specific college. Educate To Career states- 'The ETC College Rankings Index quantifies and compares each college's record for improving the labor market outcomes for students.' Some of the metrics that Educate To Career uses in calculating their rankings include:

· Percentage of graduates employed in occupations which utilize their field of study

· Average salary earned by recent graduates, by school for each major category (adjusted for region, occupation and other variables)

· Percentage of persons employed within one year of graduation (weighted on an occupational trend basis)

· Major, weighted against national norms

· Number of years to graduate

· In-state, net cost tuition

· Loan default rates

· A basket of input variables which norm students to a common standard for each major

As opposed to most other rankings systems, Ivy League schools are not at the very top of the ETC College Rankings Index. Educate To Career states that high SAT-scoring students (as those typically admitted to elite colleges) tend to do well in the workforce regardless of where they attended college- or even if they did not attend college. As stated on the Educate To Career website- 'Our data show that many elite schools in the U.S. are more adept at selecting winners than they are in creating winners.' Furthermore, they state- 'Public, state run schools generally provide a very good education for an excellent price. The result being that many of these schools offer an excellent value relative to most other categories of colleges. Academic standards are uniformly high in most state schools and a relatively high percentage of their graduates enter the workforce successfully; with meaningful occupations and high relative salaries. Additionally, graduates from these schools typically have low debt loads which translates ultimately to their low loan default rates.' The 2016 ETC College Rankings Index comprises 1,182 U.S. colleges.

Faculty Scholarly Productivity rankings

The Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index by Academic Analytics ranks 354 institutions based on faculty publications, citations, research grants and awards.

Forbes college rankings

In 2008, Forbes.com began publishing an annual list, prepared by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity of "America's Best Colleges". Student satisfaction (evaluations from RateMyProfessors.com, retention rates and targeted student satisfaction surveys on Facebook) constitutes 75% of the score. Post-graduate success (self-reported salaries of alumni from PayScale, alumni appearing on the CCAP's America’s Leaders List) constitutes 32.5% of the score. Student debt loads constitute 25% of the score. The graduation rate (the proportion of students who complete four-year degrees in four years) constitutes 7.5% of the score. Academic success (the proportion of students receiving nationally competitive awards) constitutes 10% of the score. Public reputation is not considered, which causes some colleges to score lower than in other lists. A three-year moving average is used to smooth out the scoring. The 2015 ranking puts Pomona College at the top, followed by Williams, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, and Swarthmore.

Money's "Best Colleges"

Money's college rankings take into account 21 factors that it categorizes as measures of educational quality, affordability, and alumni earnings. The rankings considered 1500 four-year colleges and reported the top ranking 736. In 2015, according to Money, the top five colleges are Stanford, Babson, MIT, Princeton, and CalTech.

College	College ranking
Stanford University	1
Babson College	2
MIT	3
Princeton University	4
Caltech	5
Harvey Mudd College	6
Harvard University	6

Niche rankings

Niche provides rankings and reviews of colleges in the U.S. Their Best Colleges ranking focuses on academics, diversity, affordability, and student satisfaction. Their most recent ranking places Stanford at the top, followed by MIT, Harvard, Yale, and Rice.

University	College Ranking
Stanford University	1
MIT	2
Harvard University	3
Yale University	4
Rice University	5
University of Pennsylvania	6
Princeton University	7
Washington University in St. Louis	8
University of Southern California	9
Vanderbilt University	10

The Princeton Review Dream Colleges

The Princeton Review annually asks students and parents what their dream college is, if cost and ability to get in were not factors. Over 10,000 students and parents responded in 2016. The top dream school for students is Stanford, for the fourth year in a row. The top dream school for parents is also Stanford, for the fifth year in a row. Stanford won out over Harvard and NYU among students, and led Harvard and Princeton among parents.

University	Students' Dream College Ranking
Stanford University	1
Harvard College	2
New York University	3
UCLA	4
Princeton University	5

University	Parents' Dream College Ranking
Stanford University	1
Harvard College	2
Princeton University	3
MIT	4
Duke University	5

Revealed Preference Rankings

Avery et al. pioneered the use of choice modelling to rank colleges. Their methodology used a statistical analysis of the decisions of 3,240 students who applied to college in 1999. MyChances.net adopted a similar approach starting in 2009, stating that its method is based on this approach. The study analysed students admitted to multiple colleges. The college they attended became the winner, and the others became the losers. An Elo rating system was used to assign points based on each win or loss, and the colleges were ranked based on their Elo points. A useful consequence of the use of Elo points is that they can be used to estimate the frequency with which students, upon being admitted to two schools, will choose one over the other. Most recent preference ranking by Parchment placed Stanford at the top, followed by MIT, Harvard, and Yale.

University	Total Points
Stanford University	2419
MIT	2370
Harvard University	2363
Yale University	2307
Princeton University	2306

Social Mobility Index (SMI) rankings

The SMI rankings are a collaborative publication from CollegeNet and PayScale. The rankings aim to provide a measure of the extent to which colleges provide upward economic mobility to those that attend. The rankings were created in response to the finding in Science magazine which showed that among developed nations, the United States now provides the least economic opportunity and mobility for its citizens. The rankings were also created to combat the rising costs of tuition, much of which is attributed to the efforts of some colleges to increase their own fame and wealth in ways that increase their rank in media periodicals that put an emphasis on such measures. In 2014, according to the SMI, the top five colleges are Montana Tech, Rowan University, Florida A&M, Cal Poly Pomona, and Cal State Northridge.

The Top American Research Universities

The Center for Measuring University Performance has ranked American research universities in the Top American Research Universities since 2000. The methodology is based on data such as research publications, citations, recognitions and funding, as well as undergraduate quality such as SAT scores. The information used can be found in publicly accessible materials, reducing possibilities for manipulation. The methodology is generally consistent from year to year and changes are explained in the publication along with references from other studies.

TrendTopper MediaBuzz College Guide

TrendTopper MediaBuzz College Guide is an American-college guide based on what it calls "Internet brand equity" based on data collected from the Internet and global media sources. It ranks the Top 300 United States colleges and universities. The guide includes specialty and for profit schools including Art, Business, Design, Music, and Online Education. The TrendTopper MediaBuzz College Rankings are produced twice a year by the Global Language Monitor of Austin, Texas.

Time Magazine described internet brand equity as "a measure of who's talking about you online, based on Internet data, social media, blogs and the top 75,000 print and electronic media outlets.

GLM ranks the schools "according to their online presence -- or internet brand equity ... By focusing on online presence, the Monitor hopes to avoid the biases that characterize other rankings, which commonly rely on the opinions of university officials and college counselors rather than that of the greater public." GLM believes the rankings provide an up-to-date perspective on which schools have the most popular brand. The resulting rankings gauge the relative value of the various institutions and how they change over time.

The Global Language Monitor publishes other lists relating to the English language including: the TrendTopper MediaBuzz College Guide rankings of the top 425 U.S. colleges and universities according to their internet brand equity.

Top Universities (January 2016): Rank/University/Previous Ranking

Top Universities Last

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1
2. University of California at Los Angeles 6
3. University of California, Berkeley 3
4. University of California, Davis 7
5. University of California, San Diego 12
6. University of Chicago 4
7. University of Texas, Austin 5
8. Harvard University 2
9. University of Washington 13
10. University of Southern California 27
11. Stanford University 8
12. University of Wisconsin, Madison 15
13. Yale University 21
14. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 16
15. University of California, Irvine 37
16. University of Virginia 19
17. University of California, Santa Barbara 36
18. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 20
19. University of Minnesota 22
20. Ohio State University, Columbus 28

Top 20 US Colleges by TrendTopper MediaBuzz 2016

Rank/College/Previous Ranking

1. Wesleyan University 54
2. School of the Art Institute of Chicago 27
3. College of the Holy Cross 58
4. Williams College 6
5. University of Richmond 2
6. United States Military Academy 1
7. Smith College 47
8. United States Naval Academy 20
9. Middlebury College 7
10. Pratt Institute 10
11. Wellesley College 4
12. University of the Arts, PA 69
13. Berklee College of Music 72
14. Babson College 9
15. Oberlin College 19
16. Rhode Island School of Design 22
17. Bucknell University 11
18. Vassar College 8
19. Barnard College 21
20. Colgate University 14

Top US Colleges by Category

• The 222 Top US Universities 1. MIT, 2. UCLA, 3. Berkeley
• The 199 Top US Colleges 1. Wesleyan (CT), 2. SAIC, 3. Holy Cross
• The Top US Private Universities 1. Chicago, 2. Harvard, 3. Stanford
• The Top US Public Universities 1. UCLA, 2. Berkeley, 3. UC Davis
• The Top US Private Colleges 1. Wesleyan (CT), 2. SAIC, 3. Holy Cross
• The Top US Public Colleges 1. West Point, 2. Annapolis, 3. Air Force
• The Top Engineering Universities 1. MIT, 2. Virginia Tech, 3. Georgia Tech
• The Top Engineering Colleges 1. Harvey Mudd, 2. MSOE, 3. SD School of Mines
• The Top Catholic Universities 1. U San Diego, 2. Boston College, 3. Notre Dame.
• The Top Catholic Colleges 1. Holy Cross, 2. Siena College, 3. Willamette
• Top Denomination-related Colleges 1. St Olaf, 2. High Point, 3. Muhlenberg
• Top Military and Service Academies 1. West Point, 2. Annapolis, 3. Air Force
• Top Art, Design, and Music Schools 1. School of the Art Institute AIC, 2. Pratt Institute, 3. School of the Arts, PA
• Top Women’s Colleges 1. Smith, 2. Wellesley, 3. Barnard
• Top Historically Black Colleges and Universities 1. Morehouse, 2. Spelman, 3. Rhodes

University Entrepreneur Report

The University Entrepreneur Report lists the top six American universities in terms of venture capital investments in businesses started by a university's alumni. According to a CB Insights study of deals from 2007-2011, Stanford alumni secured 203 venture capital or angel investments, totaling $4.1 billion, more than any other university studied. Harvard was second with 112 deals, totaling $3.8 billion. Excluding the Facebook deal, Harvard alumni secured $1.8 billion, less than half of Stanford’s total. UC Berkeley, NYU, UPenn and MIT each brought in over $1.0 billion.

University	Total Value of Venture Capital or Angel Investments from 2007 - 2011 in $Billions	Number of Venture Capital or Angel Investment Deals from 2007 - 2011
Stanford University	4.1	203
Harvard University	3.8	112
University of California at Berkeley	1.3	90
New York University	1.2	48
University of Pennsylvania	1.2	46

U.S. News & World Report College and University rankings

The magazine U.S. News & World Report's rankings are based upon information they collect from educational institutions via an annual survey and school websites. It also considers opinion surveys of university faculty and administrators outside the school. Their college rankings were first published in 1983 and have been published in all years thereafter, except 1984.

The US News listings have gained such influence that some Universities have made it a specific goal to reach a particular level in the US News rankings. Belmont University president Bob Fisher stated in 2010, "Rising to the Top 5 in U.S. News represents a key element of Belmont’s Vision 2015 plan." Clemson University made it a public goal to rise to the Top 20 in the US News rankings, and made specific changes, including reducing class size and altering the presentation of teacher salaries, so as to perform better in the statistical analysis by US News. At least one university, Arizona State, has actually tied the university president's pay to an increase in the school's placement in the US News rankings.

The following are elements in the US News rankings.

• Peer assessment: a survey of the institution's reputation among presidents, provosts, and admissions deans of other institutions (15%)
• Guidance Counselor assessment: a survey of the institution's reputation among approximately 1,800 high school guidance counselors (7.5%)
• Retention: six-year graduation rate and first-year student retention rate (20%)
• Faculty resources: average class size, faculty salary, faculty degree level, student-faculty ratio, and proportion of full-time faculty (20%)
• Student selectivity: standardized test scores of admitted students, proportion of admitted students in upper percentiles of their high school class, and proportion of applicants accepted (15%)
• Financial resources: per-student spending (10%)
• Graduation rate performance: difference between expected and actual graduation rate (7.5%)
• Alumni giving rate (5%)

U.S. News determined the relative weights of these factors and changed them over time. The National Opinion Research Center reviewed the methodology and stated that the weights "lack any defensible empirical or theoretical basis". The first four of the listed factors account for the great majority of the U.S. News ranking (80%, according to U.S. News's 2005 methodology), and the "reputational measure" (which surveys high-level administrators at similar institutions about their perceived quality ranking of each college and university) is especially important to the final ranking (accounting by itself for 25% of the ranking according to the 2005 methodology).

A New York Times article reported that, given the U.S. News weighting methodology, "it's easy to guess who's going to end up on top: the Big Three, Harvard, Yale and Princeton round out the first three essentially every year. When asked how he knew his system was sound, Mel Elfin, the rankings' founder, often answered that he knew it because those three schools always landed on top. When a new lead statistician, Amy Graham, changed the formula in 1999 to one she considered more statistically valid, the California Institute of Technology jumped to first place. Ms. Graham soon left, and a modified system pushed Princeton back to No. 1 the next year."

A 2010 study by the University of Michigan found that university rankings in the United States significantly affect institutions' applications and admissions. The research analyzed the effects of the U.S. News & World Report rankings, showing a lasting effect on college applications and admissions by students in the top 10% of their class. In addition, they found that rankings influence survey assessments of reputation by college presidents at peer institutions, such that rankings and reputation are becoming much more similar over time.

A 2014 study published in Research in Higher Education removed the mystique of the U.S. News ranking process by producing a ranking model that faithfully recreated U.S. News outcomes and quantified the inherent “noise” in the rankings for all nationally ranked universities. The model developed provided detailed insight into the U.S. News ranking process. It allowed the impact of changes to U.S. News subfactors to be studied when variation between universities and within subfactors was present. Numerous simulations were run using this model to understand the amount of change required for a university to improve its rank or move into the top 20. Results show that for a university ranked in the mid-30s it would take a significant amount of additional resources, directed in a very focused way, to become a top-ranked national university, and that rank changes of up to +/- 4 points should be considered “noise”.

Top national universities	Rank	Top liberal arts colleges	Rank
Princeton University	1	Williams College	1
Harvard University	2	Amherst College	2
Yale University	3	Swarthmore College	3
Columbia University	4	Bowdoin College	4
Stanford University	4	Middlebury College	4
University of Chicago	4	Pomona College	4
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	7	Wellesley College	4
Duke University	8	Carlton College	8
University of Pennsylvania	9	Claremont McKenna College	9
California Institute of Technology	10	Davidson College	9
Johns Hopkins University	10	United States Naval Academy	9

Washington Monthly national universities rankings

The Washington Monthly's "National Universities Rankings", most recently published in 2013, began as a research report in 2005, with rankings appearing in the September 2006 issue. It ranks colleges on academic quality, faculty, and alumni outcome. It also offers American university and college rankings based upon "contribution to the public good in numerous categories.

The following are elements in the Washington Monthly rankings.

• Academic quality: a survey of the institution's academic structure, and general program
• Retention: first year retention rate, and graduation rate of the institutions
• Faculty resources: average class size, faculty degree level, student-faculty ratio, and proportion of full-time faculty
• Social Mobility: recruiting and graduating low-income students
• Research: producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs
• Service: encouraging students to give something back to their country

Their top national universities are:

Top national universities	Rank	Top liberal arts college	Rank
University of California, San Diego	1	Bryn Mawr College	1
University of California, Riverside	2	Carleton College	2
Texas A&M University, College Station	3	Berea College	3
University of California, Berkeley	4	Swarthmore College	4
Stanford University	5	Harvey Mudd College	5
University of California, Los Angeles	6	Reed College	6
University of Washington, Seattle	7	Pomona College	7
Harvard University	8	Bates College	8
Georgia Institute of Technology	9	Haverford College	9
University of Texas, El Paso	10	New College of Florida	10

"What will they Learn?" Report - American Council of Trustees and Alumni

In 2009, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) began grading colleges and universities based on the strength of their general education requirements. In ACTA's annual What Will They Learn? report, colleges and universities are assigned a letter grade from "A" to "F" based on how many of seven subjects are required of students. The seven subjects are composition, mathematics, foreign language, science, economics, literature and American government or history. The 2011-2012 edition of What Will They Learn? graded 1,007 institutions. In the 2011-2012 edition, 19 schools received an "A" grade for requiring at least six of the subjects the study evaluated. ACTA's rating system has been endorsed by Mel Elfin, founding editor of U.S. News & World Report’s rankings. New York Times higher education blogger Stanley Fish, while agreeing that universities ought to have a strong core curriculum, disagreed with some of the subjects ACTA includes in the core.

Other rankings

Other rankings include the Fiske Guide to Colleges and College Prowler, now called Niche (see above). Many specialized rankings are available in guidebooks, considering individual student interests, fields of study, geographical location, financial aid and affordability. In addition to best overall colleges ranking shown above, Niche also publishes dozens of specialized rankings such as Best Academics, Best Campus Food, Most Conservative Colleges, and Best Technology.

Among the rankings dealing with individual fields of study is the Philosophical Gourmet Report or "Leiter Report", a ranking of philosophy departments. This report has attracted criticism from different viewpoints. Notably, practitioners of continental philosophy, who perceive the Leiter report as unfair to their field, have compiled alternative rankings.

The Gourman Report, last published in 1996, ranked the quality of undergraduate majors and graduate programs.

The Higher Education Rankings, developed and managed by the New York City consulting company IV Research, is a commercial product that provides both general rankings as well as personalized rankings based on a complicated assessment of 6 criteria and 30 indicators.

Gallup polls ask American adults, "All in all, what would you say is the best college or university in the United States?"

Global Language Monitor produces a "TrendTopper MediaBuzz" ranking of the Top 300 United States colleges and universities semi-annually. It publishes overall results for both university and college categories. It uses the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s classifications to distinguish between universities and liberal arts colleges. The rankings list 125 universities, 100 colleges, the change in the rankings over time, a "Predictive Quantities Indicator" (PQI) Index number (for relative rankings), rankings by Momentum (yearly and 90-day snapshots), and rankings by State. The most recent ranking appeared on November 1, 2009, covering 2008. The PQI index is produced by Global Language Monitor's proprietary PQI algorithm, which has been criticized by some linguists for its use in a counting of the total number of English words. The Global Language Monitor also sells the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Reputation Management solution for higher education for which "colleges and universities can enhance their standings among peers". The Global Language Monitor states that it "does not influence the Higher Education rankings in any way".

The Princeton Review, annually publishes a book of Best Colleges. In 2011, this was titled The Best 373 Colleges. Phi Beta Kappa has also sought to establish chapters at the best schools, lately numbering 280.

In terms of collegiate sports programs, the annual NACDA Directors' Cup provides a measure of all-around collegiate athletic team achievement. Stanford has won the Division I Directors' cup for the last 21 years in a row.

Criticisms

Main article: Criticism of college and university rankings (North America)

American college and university ranking systems have drawn criticism from within and outside higher education in Canada and the United States. Institutions that have objected include Reed College, Alma College, Mount Holyoke College, St. John's College, Earlham College, MIT, Stanford University, University of Western Ontario, and Queen's University.

Critics charged that U.S. News intentionally changed its methodology every year so that the rankings change and they can sell more magazines. A San Francisco Chronicle article argues that "almost all of US News factors are redundant and can be boiled down to one characteristic: the size of the college or university's endowment."

Some higher education experts, like Kevin Carey of Education Sector, have argued that U.S. News & World Report's college rankings system is merely a list of criteria that mirrors the superficial characteristics of elite colleges and universities. According to Carey, "[The] U.S. News ranking system is deeply flawed. Instead of focusing on the fundamental issues of how well colleges and universities educate their students and how well they prepare them to be successful after college, the magazine's rankings are almost entirely a function of three factors: fame, wealth, and exclusivity." He suggested more important characteristics are how well students are learning and how likely students are to earn a degree.

2007 movement

Main article: Criticism of college and university rankings (2007 United States)

On 19 June 2007, during the annual meeting of the Annapolis Group, members discussed a letter to college presidents asking them not to participate in the "reputation survey" section of the U.S. News survey (this section comprises 25% of the ranking). As a result, "a majority of the approximately 80 presidents at the meeting said that they did not intend to participate in the U.S. News reputational rankings in the future." However, the decision to fill out the reputational survey was left to each individual college. The statement stated that its members "have agreed to participate in the development of an alternative common format that presents information about their colleges for students and their families to use in the college search process." This database was outlined and developed in conjunction with higher education organizations including theNational Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the Council of Independent Colleges.

U.S. News & World Report editor Robert Morse issued a response on 22 June 2007, stating:

"in terms of the peer assessment survey, we at U.S. News firmly believe the survey has significant value because it allows us to measure the "intangibles" of a college that we can't measure through statistical data. Plus, the reputation of a school can help get that all-important first job and plays a key part in which grad school someone will be able to get into. The peer survey is by nature subjective, but the technique of asking industry leaders to rate their competitors is a commonly accepted practice. The results from the peer survey also can act to level the playing field between private and public colleges."

In reference to the alternative database discussed by the Annapolis Group, Morse argued:

"It's important to point out that the Annapolis Group's stated goal of presenting college data in a common format has been tried before [...] U.S. News has been supplying this exact college information for many years already. And it appears that NAICU will be doing it with significantly less comparability and functionality.U.S. News first collects all these data (using an agreed-upon set of definitions from the Common Data Set). Then we post the data on our website in easily accessible, comparable tables. In other words, the Annapolis Group and the others in the NAICU initiative actually are following the lead of U.S. News."

In 1996, according to Gerhard Casper, then-president of Stanford University, U.S. News & World Report changed its formula to calculated financial resources:

Knowing that universities—and, in most cases, the statistics they submit—change little from one year to the next, I can only conclude that what are changing are the formulas the magazine's number massagers employ. And, indeed, there is marked evidence of that this year. In the category "Faculty resources," even though few of us had significant changes in our faculty or student numbers, our class sizes, or our finances, the rankings' producers created a mad scramble in rank order [...data...]. Then there is "Financial resources," where Stanford dropped from #6 to #9, Harvard from #5 to #7. Our resources did not fall; did other institutions' rise so sharply? I infer that, in each case, the formulas were simply changed, with notification to no one, not even your readers, who are left to assume that some schools have suddenly soared, others precipitously plummeted.

See also

• College admissions in the United States
• University and College Accountability Network

External links

• The National Academies Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs