Despite changes in the methodology for U.S. News & World Report’s annual best colleges rankings, the list of top national universities was once again dominated by Ivy League schools and elite institutions like Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Princeton University in New Jersey reigns as the No. 1 school in the nation. Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., which tied Princeton for the top spot last year, dropped to second place.
Many schools’ ranks will have changed in the 2014 ranking, U.S. News’ college rankings czar Bob Morse said, but for the ranking of the top 10 was nearly unchanged compared with both 2013 and 2012.
Morse said the publication expanded the use of the graduation rate performance, “reduced the weight assigned to the high school class standing of newly enrolled students and gave slightly more weight to SAT and ACT scores.” They also made changes to the weight of the peer assessment score and increased the weight of retention rates.