Highlights from the US News & World Report Higher Education Rankings

A few days ago, the US News & World Report announced the Best College rankings overall and based on a few categories to help students determine the academic quality of over 1,800 schools in the US. Princeton University remains the highest in the Best National Schools. Williams College remains the top on the Best National Liberal Arts Colleges list for the 14th consecutive year.

Schools in California and military schools made a strong appearance on this year’s list, with UC Berkeley being the Top Public School for the 19th year in a row, and the US Naval Academy being the top Public School among National Liberal Colleges.

The rankings are derived based on academic excellence based on 15 different qualities. The numbers are largely based on student outcomes (including graduation and retention rates). The top schools had significantly higher freshman retention and graduation rates than other schools.

• The average six-year graduation rate is 95% for the top National Universities and 93.9% for the top 10 National Liberal Arts Colleges.
• The average freshman retention rate is 98.1% for the top 10 National Universities and 96.6% for the top 10 National Liberal Arts Colleges.
• In comparison, the average six-year graduation rate among all numerically ranked schools on the National Liberal Arts Colleges is 75.2% and freshman retention rate is 85.6%.

Here are the complete top rankings:

National Universities

1. Princeton University
2. Harvard University
3. University of Chicago (tie)
4. Yale University (tie)
5. Columbia University (tie)
6. Stanford University (tie)
7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
8. Duke University (tie)
9. University of Pennsylvania (tie)
10. John Hopkins University

National Liberal Arts Colleges

1. Williams College
2. Amherst College
3. Wellesley College
4. Middlebury College (tie)
5. Swarthmore College (tie)
6. Bowdoin College
7. Carleton College (tie)
8. Pomona College (tie)
9. Claremont McKenna College (tie)
10. Davidson College (tie)

Top National Public Schools

1. University of California – Berkeley
2. University of California – Los Angeles (tie)
3. University of Virginia (tie)
4. University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
5. University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

Top National Liberal Arts Colleges

1. United States Military Academy (MD)
2. United States Military Academy (NY)
3. United States Air Force Academy
4. Virginia Military Institute
5. New College of Florida