What’s New?
New this year, U.S. News made a slight change in the way it factors class size in the methodology. Rather than using two components for class size, U.S. News created one index measure that aims to more accurately reflects the varying class sizes across campuses.
“Research has shown that smaller classes foster a productive and positive learning environment,” said Robert Morse, chief data strategist at U.S. News. “With this new index measure, U.S. News takes fuller advantage of the data schools provide, while still rewarding schools that make an effort to better serve their students with smaller classes.”
The college ranking categories are based on the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the most widely accepted classification system in U.S. higher education. In February 2016, Carnegie released official updates–called the “2015 update”–including to the Basic Classification used in the 2017 Best Colleges. As a result, about 12 percent of ranked schools moved into different categories compared with last year. The Carnegie classification system has been used by U.S. News since the first Best Colleges rankings in 1983.
In an exclusive arrangement, the launch of the 2017 Best Colleges is being sponsored by Fidelity Investments. To learn more about the U.S. News College Compass, which provides access to the complete rankings and data, or to order a copy of the “Best Colleges 2017” guidebook (ISBN 978-1-931469-78-4), visit the online U.S. News store.
2017 U.S. News Best Colleges Rankings
1. Princeton University (NJ)
2. Harvard University (MA)
3. University of Chicago (IL) (tie)
3. Yale University (CT) (tie)
5. Columbia University (NY) (tie)
5. Stanford University (CA) (tie)
7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
8. Duke University (NC) (tie)
8. University of Pennsylvania (tie)
10. Johns Hopkins University (MD)
National Liberal Arts Colleges
1. Williams College (MA)
2. Amherst College (MA)
3. Wellesley College (MA)
4. Middlebury College (VT) (tie)
4. Swarthmore College (PA) (tie)
6. Bowdoin College (ME)
7. Carleton College (MN) (tie)
7. Pomona College (CA) (tie)
9. Claremont McKenna College (CA) (tie)
9. Davidson College (NC) (tie)
Top Public Schools
1. University of California—Berkeley
2. University of California—Los Angeles (tie)
2. University of Virginia (tie)
4. University of Michigan—Ann Arbor
5. University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill
National Liberal Arts Colleges
1. United States Naval Academy (MD)
2. United States Military Academy (NY)
3. United States Air Force Academy (CO)
4. Virginia Military Institute
5. New College of Florida
For more information, visit Best Colleges and use #BestColleges on Facebook and Twitter.
Material from a press release was used in this report.
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