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Ironically, the magazine’s very first attempt at a poll was just that - a poll of different presidents and deans from around the country. And, of course, the criticism back then was that it favored the elite schools. It also didn’t help that the eastern schools tended to be clustered near the top. There’s certainly a lot of evidence to suggest that USNews, which was based in the Midwest, developed all of these bells and whistles to mollify their readership.</p>