<p>Here is an interesting link that I stumbled upon.</p>
<p>Just for some fun factoids and key interests, Given how the President of Stanford criticized U.S. News report on how fast it fluctuates year upon year even though academics don't change that much every year, it interests me to see beyond the yearly numbers and to see what the averages of these schools are like ever since US News started ranking sinec 1983. </p>
<p>Averages of ranking between 1987 through 2007</p>
<p>Princeton University____________<strong><em>2.1
Harvard University</em></strong>_____________ 1.7
Yale University______________________ 2.4
Stanford University _____________<strong><em>4.3
Caltech</em></strong>______________________ 6.5
MIT _________________________<strong><em>5.5
University of Pennsylvania</em></strong>_<strong><em>10.1
Duke University</em></strong>________________ 6.3
Dartmouth College______________<strong><em>8.4
Columbia University</em></strong>_______<strong><em>10.4
University of Chicago</em></strong>___________ 10.6
Cornell University_______________<strong><em>11.9
Washington University in St. Louis</em></strong><strong><em>16.8
Northwestern University</em></strong>__________ 13.4
Brown University_____________________ 13.0
Johns Hopkins University_________<strong><em>14.1
Rice University</em></strong>_________________ 14.5
Vanderbilt University_____________<strong><em>20.2
Emory University</em></strong>__________<strong><em>18.7
University of Notre Dame</em></strong>_________ 19.2
University of California at Berkeley__<strong><em>18.3
Carnegie Mellon University</em></strong>___<strong><em>22.3
Georgetown University</em></strong>______<strong><em>21.6
University of Virginia</em></strong>________<strong><em>20.9
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor</em></strong>_ 21.9
University of California at Los Angeles_____ 24.3
Tufts University_______________________ 26.5
University of Southern California__________ 35.7
UNC at Chapel Hill______________________23.8</p>
<p>Averages of ranking between 1987 through 2007</p>
<p>Harvard University___________________ 1.7
Princeton University____________<strong><em>2.1
Yale University</em></strong>________________ 2.4
Stanford University _____________<strong><em>4.3
MIT _</em></strong>__________________<strong><em>5.5
Duke University</em></strong>________________ 6.3
Caltech____________________________ 6.5
Dartmouth College______________<strong><em>8.4
University of Pennsylvania</em></strong>_<strong><em>10.1
Columbia University</em></strong>_______<strong><em>10.4
University of Chicago</em></strong>___________ 10.6
Cornell University_______________<strong><em>11.9
Brown University</em></strong>_______________ 13.0
Northwestern University_______________ 13.4
Johns Hopkins University_________<strong><em>14.1
Rice University</em></strong>_________________ 14.5
Washington University in St. Louis___<strong><em>16.8
University of California at Berkeley</em></strong><strong><em>18.3
Emory University</em></strong>____________<strong><em>18.7
University of Notre Dame</em></strong>_________ 19.2
Vanderbilt University_____________<strong><em>20.2
University of Virginia</em></strong>________<strong><em>20.9
Georgetown University</em></strong>______<strong><em>21.6
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor</em></strong>_ 21.9
Carnegie Mellon University_________<strong><em>22.3
UNC at Chapel Hill</em></strong>____________<strong><em>23.8
University of California at Los Angeles</em></strong>_ 24.3
Tufts University_______________________ 26.5
University of Southern California__________ 35.7</p>
<p>Rankings through the years. As published in American Research Universities, Graham and Diamond. JHU Press 1997</p>
<p>The first recorded effort to rank US schools was done in 1925.
1.Chicago
2.Harvard.
3.Columbia
4.Yale
5.Wisconsin
6.Princeton
7.JHU
8.Michigan
9.UCB
10.Cornell</p>
Not exactly. All those rankings were essentially done via the same method that USNews uses to determine the "Peer Assessment" component of its current rankings.</p>
<p>Berkeley's 2008 Peer Assessment score is tied for 5th with Yale.</p>