A number of organizations rank colleges every year; one source that students can use in their research is US News and World Report. A college with a high ranking doesn’t necessarily mean it is best for you overall. You need to consider a number of factors before choosing the college or university that you want to attend.

Who is US News?

US News and World Report (often just shortened to US News) was founded in 1948 with the merger of two magazines founded by newspaper mogul David Lawrence. It’s based out of Washington, D.C., and the magazine recently made the decision to offer monthly subscriptions; previously, they published once a week, but are moving toward promoting their online version more than their print version. US News is a conservative-slanted news magazine, and they are well-known for their annual college rankings.

Why should you trust US News?

This magazine has been publishing college rankings since the mid-1980s, and when the list comes out, the magazine typically sells 50% more copies and the website has millions of viewers. Studies show that they are the most widely-quoted source on the topic of college rankings, and they also publish college-related guides in book format to help students choose the best schools.

What is their Methodology?

US News compiles its rankings based on surveys, which are sent to all schools in the United States. They actually publish a number of different lists, grouping schools into the following categories: National Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, Universities – Master’s, Baccalaureate Colleges, and Specialty Schools. The Master’s and Baccalaureate categories are future split by geographical location, and the Specialty category is split into Fine and Performing Arts, Business, and Engineering.

Once the colleges are classified, data from the surveys is gathered to determine a school’s “indicator of academic excellence.” These indicators fall into seven categories:

• Peer Assessment (how well administrators at other schools rate their college)
• Retention (how many freshmen students return and how many graduate within six years)
• Faculty (class size, faculty salary, degrees held by professors, student-to-faculty ratio, and percentage of faculty who are full time)
• Student Selectivity (SAT/ACT scores of students, high school class rankings of students, and acceptance rate)
• Finances (average spending per student on educational resources)
• Graduation Rate Performance (the actual number of students who graduate within six years versus US News’ prediction based for the school based on test scores, scholarships, etc)
• Alumni Giving (percentage of living alumni who have donated money in the past two years)

The final score is weighted, which means that the top school in each category is given a value of 100 and schools rating below it are given values based on how they compare to the top school. Then, the totals are calculated to create the final ranking, with some of the categories being more important than others. For example, Alumni Giving is only worth 5% of the overall score, while student selectivity is worth 15%.

Remember, just because US News ranks a school at the top of its list doesn’t mean that it is right for you. This is just one of the many resources you can use to find the best college for your educational goals and career path.