Graduation and retention rates comprise 30% of US News ranking criteria. That is clearly an overweighting and this is yet another fatal flaw in their methodology. The continued use of these stats (which have little to do with academic quality) will virtually guarantee that Stanford will never reach the top of the rankings where it by most legitimate measures deserves to be. I believe it is now ranked 5th, tied with Columbia. Columbia is a fine school (I’m an alum) but its profile in just about every area would put it a tier below that of Stanford.
Every school–even HYPSM–will lose 2-3% of those who enter. Add to that Stanford’s world class elite athletes AND entrepreneurial tech wizards and Stanford’s graduation and retention rates WILL always lag those of HYP. Stanford’s student body is arguably the most talented in the world. Its Olympians, other professional caliber athletes, techies, and entrepreneurs, in the aggregate, simply have more options than the students at any other college in America and probably in the world. Until the compilers at USNews wake up and learn what every academic “in the know” has known for years now–that Harvard and Stanford define the apex of America education, grad and undergrad–many, like myself, will continue to shake their heads and ask in a now annual ritual, " What planet is USNews on?"
Please disregard my post above. It was meant for another discussion and has been posted there.
Mea culpa.