Harvard University number 1 in USA

It’s the first time since 1996 that the Cambridge, Mass., university is alone at the top of the National Universities category. Princeton and Yale come in second and third, respectively, while Amherst College and Williams College share the No. 1 spot on the Liberal Arts Colleges list.

This year, Harvard managed to beat perennial No. 1 Princeton by one 10th of a point in the reputation survey the magazine sends out to college administrators across the country, in addition to making slight improvements in some of the other statistical measures. Harvard, which has a nearly $35 billion endowment, made big news last December when it announced that it would increase the financial packages it offers to students from families that earn $180,000 or less. The move was a dramatic leap beyond the $60,000 threshold that other highly selective universities had been using to determine which students were eligible for the most generous assistance packages. In another PR boost for the nation’s oldest university, last school year was also Harvard’s first under the guidance of President Drew Gilpin Faust. Her predecessor, Lawrence Summers, left after making controversial remarks about women in the science disciplines.

The reputation survey that U.S. News sends to top college officials at each school counts for 25 percent of a college’s ranking. The other 75 percent is based on quantitative data that assesses a college’s performance in areas such as graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, financial resources, student selectivity, and alumni giving. Each year, the formula is reassessed to stay on top of recent developments in higher education. For example, just as Harvard and dozens of other colleges recently have made adjustments to become more accessible to families of lesser financial means, U.S. News has incorporated data about the proportion of low-income students a school enrolls into its ranking measurements.

These periodic methodology adjustments make flat year-to-year comparisons of a school’s U.S. News ranking somewhat misleading. Nevertheless, alumni always tend to take note of which schools have gained an edge on their academic rivals. For example, in the National Universities list this year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology finished in fourth place, besting its West Coast rival, the California Institute of Technology, which landed in sixth place. Last year, Caltech held the edge with a fifth place ranking while MIT placed seventh. Part of the difference: MIT improved its faculty resources statistics slightly, while Caltech dipped there a little. (As in Olympic swimming, slightly better performance makes a big difference in results at this level of rankings.)

Over on the Liberal Arts Colleges list, this year the United States Military Academy was ranked 14th, besting its rival, the United States Naval Academy, which held the 22nd slot. Last year, Navy had the edge, finishing 20th while Army was 22nd.

Top 25 universities in USA:
1. Harvard University
2. Princeton University
3. Yale University
4-5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
4-5. Stanford University
6-7. University of Pennsylvania
6-7. California Institute of Technology
8-10. Columbia University
8-10. Duke University
8-10. University of Chicago
11. Dartmouth College
12-13. Northwestern University
12-13. Washington University
14. Cornell University
15. Johns Hopkins University
16. Brown University
17. Rice University
18-20. Emory University
18-20. University of Notre Dame
18-20. Vanderbilt University
21. University of California at Berkeley
22. Carnegie Mellon University
23-24. Georgetown University
23-24. University of Virginia
25. University of California at Los Angeles