U.S. News and World Report Releases Annual College Rankings

U.S. News and World Report will release their college rankings online today and in the magazine Monday. Over the past 25 years, the rankings have been the center of controversy. Their influence over how people view four-year colleges is unprecedented, as students and parents use them as a barometer over which schools to apply to and which are generally the best (and worst) in the country. The rankings cover a large number of categories, such as alumni giving, selectivity rate and student/faculty ratio. They also cover master's programs, engineering programs and liberal arts colleges.

For the second straight year, Princeton University, Harvard University and Yale University are the top three four-year universities, respectively. Stanford University is fourth, while University of Pennsylvania and California Institute of Technology are tied for the fifth spot.

Harvard University had the highest graduation rate, while New York's New School had the highest percentage of international students.

Williams College was listed as the best liberal arts college, followed by Amherst College, Swarthmore College, and Wellesley College with Carleton College and Middlebury College tied for fifth.

Although UPenn was listed fifth overall, its undergraduate business program, the Wharton School, is ranked number one, followed by Massachusetts Insititute of Technology (Sloan), University of California-Berkeley (Haas) and University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

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