Perhaps a playoff is in order. For the second straight year, Harvard and Princeton share the top spot in the controversial U.S. News &World Report rankings of “America’s Best Colleges.”
Princeton earned at least a tie for the No. 1 ranking for the fifth consecutive year of the rankings, which saw few changes among the highest-rated schools. The latest survey, which hits newsstands Monday, again has Yale at No. 3, followed by the University of Pennsylvania.
The University of Washington ranked 46th among the top national universities, and Washington State University ranked 120th.
The University of California-Berkeley, at No. 21, was the top-rated public university. It was followed at 22 by the University of Virginia and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in a year that saw public universities generally hold their own despite state budget cuts across higher education.
Williams College was the top-ranked liberal arts college. Caltech was considered the best value among national universities based on ranking and price, including financial aid.
The rankings, at www.usnews.com, are generated by a formula that includes variables such as graduation and retention rates, faculty and financial resources, and the percentage of alumni who donate money to their alma mater.
The rankings are both reviled and breathlessly awaited by college administrators, who insist no formula can capture the value of a college experience but have been forced to acknowledge the enormous role rankings play in the minds of many applicants and parents.
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