<p>Best</a> Colleges | Find the Best College for You | US News Education</p>
<p>Five schools rank number 5.</p>
<p>UPenn and UChicago tied with STANFORD, are you serious!?</p>
<p>I was surprised how low Brown was on the list! Is there a reason for this? </p>
<p>Disclaimer: I know not to take these rankings too seriously, and Brown’s position on the list does NOT in any way make me think less of Brown…I was just curious if there was a specific criteria or figure that resulted Brown’s placement below Northwestern, etc.</p>
<p>^
Brown has historically been around that rank, I think. It was #15 last year as well.</p>
<p>The rankings don’t seem to have changed that much.</p>
<p>Glad to see Princeton moved to #1 where it belongs and UChicago to T-#5. UCB and UCLA back to where they were two years ago at #21 and #25 despite budget cuts. USC surprisingly at #23, as is CMU, which I guess is overrated after all. Surprising that USC beat UMich, UVA, and UNC in addition to UCLA.</p>
<p>Surprised they put Columbia above Stanford. I wonder where the rest of UPenn (non-Wharton) would rank.</p>
<p>They put Columbia above Stanford last year as well.</p>
<p>I know, but I thought that was just going to be a one-year anomaly. I never thought of Columbia as being that high.</p>
<p>It always seemed like a UChicago/NorthWestern level school with the advantage of being in the Ivy League and NYC to boost it.</p>
<p>“It always seemed like a UChicago/NorthWestern level school with the advantage of being in the Ivy League and NYC to boost it.”</p>
<p>It is.</p>
<p>did they published 2010 data instead of 2011</p>
<p>I think so. At least for the acceptance rate. Don’t know about other information.</p>
<p>Why University of Miami ranks so high? #38. I remembered Miami’s ranking was around 50 in 2011.</p>
<p>@cirilo92 They always use the year before’s data, I believe.</p>
<p>When will the grad school rankings come out?</p>
<p>For a better understanding of the criteria used by USnews, see this:</p>
<p>[Methodology:</a> Undergraduate Ranking Criteria and Weights - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2011/09/12/methodology-undergraduate-ranking-criteria-and-weights-2012]Methodology:”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2011/09/12/methodology-undergraduate-ranking-criteria-and-weights-2012)</p>
<p>As you can see, financial resources of the institutions play a large role, as well as peer assessment (now including the opinions of high school guidance counselors). Admission rate accounts for only 1.5% of the calculation (10% of the 15% weight for student selectivity). These criteria tell you certain things about schools but leave out a lot more. It’s really important for kids to use their own criteria when looking at colleges based on their individual priorities.</p>