<p>US News is an okay gauge about roughly where a school falls. You shouldn’t look at, forexample, Princeton and Penn State and say “Wow, Princeton is 6 spots ahead of Penn State and so is much better.” You can, however, say “Wow, I didn’t know that Princeton/Penn State were both well-respected engineering schools.” Still, these rankings are subjective and should be treated as such. Don’t mistake them for being law.</p>