US News has released their latest college rankings and, as usual, there are no surprises in the rankings. Harvard, Princeton and Yale top the National University rankings. Williams, Amherst and Swarthmore top the the National Liberal Arts College rankings. Big surprise.
I say this every year and I will say it again; do NOT pay attention to these arbitrary number rankings. While colleges may be able to be lumped into broad categories for quality, there is no possible way to provide a realistic breakdown in a 1, 2, 3 type of list. Moreover, what is an appropriate college for one student is not necessarily appropriate for another student, even if both may be admitted.
US News does provide some helpful information regarding each college. Unfortunately, unlike past years, you need to look at each individual college to see such information. This makes it more difficult to compare colleges on such factors as graduation rates. Also, much of the information this year is only available to people who choose to pay for the information. Since most of this information is already available at the College Navigator and College Board websites, I would advise saving your money and using those free resources instead.
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