U.S. News & World Report Ranks Princeton University And Williams College The Best Schools In America
U.S. News divides schools into two major national lists - universities and liberal arts colleges - based on the degrees they offer.
U.S. News made significant changes to their methodology this year, decreasing the importance of students' high school standings and increasing the amount of weight given to graduation rate performance.
According to U.S. News' website, incorporating graduation rate performance data for all schools "improves the Best Colleges ranking methodology as it's an important outcome measure that focuses on the difference between each school's predicted graduation rate ... and its actual graduation rate. The indicator gives credit to schools that have higher-than-expected graduation rates."
Earlier this summer, Forbes released a college ranking that placed California schools Stanford University and Pomona College at the number one and two spots nationally, while Princeton and Williams were numbers three and nine, respectively.
Princeton was tied with Harvard University for the top spot in last year's U.S. News rankings, while Williams held the number one ranking in liberal arts colleges from the 2013 list.
Here are the national universities that U.S. News rated in the top 10 for 2014:
1. Princeton University
2. Harvard University
3. Yale University
4. Columbia University
5. Stanford University
6. University of Chicago
7. Duke University
7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
7. University of Pennsylvania
10. California Institute of Technology
10. Dartmouth College
Here are the liberal arts colleges that U.S. News rated in the top 10 for 2014:
1. Williams College
2. Amherst College
3. Swarthmore College
4. Bowdoin College
4. Middlebury College
4. Pomona College
7. Carlton College
7. Wellesley College
9. Claremont McKenna College
9. Davidson College
9. Haverford College