US News has published its 2018 rankings today, September 10, see https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/us-news-ranks-best-colleges. In doing so, it has identified a major change in the factors used in determining rankings. It will no longer use admission rates as a factor. Instead, that is being replaced by a new “social mobility” factor evaluating the college’s success in graduating those who receive federal pell grants (usually those from households with family incomes under $50,000).
The result is that a number of colleges have some sigficant changings in rankings. The high end is still similar, although MIT and Columbia have now moved into a tie with UChicago and Yale for third. (See website link above). If this is a permanent change, colleges will no longer be able to raise their rankings simply by getting more students to apply and then accepting a low percentage.