Harvard and Princeton Top the U.S. News College Rankings

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The Princeton library has 10 of my books, while Harvard has only 1.

Crad Kilodney 5:32PM September 01, 2010

I know someone who both attended Yale and the Air Force academy. He left the academy because his moral conscience regarding the war in Vietnam. hands down however The air Force academy was far more rigorous academically then Yale.

eldridge beave of IL 1:41AM April 06, 2010

In light of the "Best University" discussion, I've come up with my own "Best Mammal" ranking.

#1 - Lion. For obvious reasons. Come on, it's the African king.

#2 - Puppy dog. Its endearing snuggles and licks will make even Scrooge's heart melt.

#3 - Whales. Because they are the biggest.

#4 - Dolphins. A close competition to the whales. Although some might argue that its cuteness tops the size of the whales.

#5 - Hyenas. For their awesome team work and predatory skills.

#6 - Bats. They are kind of like the URM status. They have a visual disability yet they thrive in numbers.

#7 - Squirrels. They are deceptively cunning in the way they pretend like they aren't rats.

#8 - Giraffes. Because they reach high like no other mammals can.

#9 Cheetahs. Fastest mammal on earth. Problem is that it's only fast.

#10 Humans. Because they make stupid rankings like this.

Mike of CA 11:19PM January 27, 2010

West Point (USMA) and Annapolis (USNA) are fine places that provide quality educations. But neither is a liberal arts college in any meaningful sense. Placing those institutions in the category of Liberal Arts Colleges suggests that US News does not really know what those colleges are and do. That category must not be used as a garbage heap. America's liberal arts colleges are the most distinctive aspect of our higher education in our nation. Every college ranked in that category needs to belong there.

LibArts Purist of PA 4:33PM December 12, 2009

I think that kids who do their first 2 undergraduate years at a community college (=junior college) and transfer to a university have a hurdle. They are not used to he intensity of classes and get a gentleman scholar's degree of "C". Instead they should hit the ground running. The learning intensity is much more at a regular university. A "C" grade is the kiss of death. better to flunk a course and take it over to replace the grade, a "C" grade is not repeatable. Thinks like this were not a factor when I was an undergrad at a University. HOWEVER, No matter how bad a student is taught, He or She will succeed, I heard this while I was doing a Post Doc at an Ivy League school.

Neal of MI 5:32PM December 09, 2009

US News is severly flawed.

1) SAT scores aren't standardized. Public schools submit best one sitting SAT score, privates submit best math + best verbal. The latter will be 30-40 points higher for the same student.

2) Endowment emphasis is flawed. Federal income streams should be the same as endowment income streams. Also, given this recession, a fall in endownment value should mean the school ranking falls. Yet this is not reflected.

The US is falling behind in exports because we do not promote the smartest schools. We just promote the richest ones. Big difference. Yay to the US world news contributing to the demise of the USA by helping make stupid people with money build our financial systems, our bridges, our electronics, etc...

Perfect SAT of CA 12:29AM November 29, 2009

Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Penn, MIT, Stanford and Chicago have always been the most prestigious U.S. universities in that respective order, regardless of US News ranking fluctuations.

Bill Bufkins of TX 11:15PM October 28, 2009

I think that Harvard and Princeton University are great colleges, but im not sure which is the better college.

Osheyauna Burns of MS 10:24PM September 17, 2009

It's completely comedic how you mention " Let's face it, Harvard and Princeton provide sucky social climates for their students and often (but definitely not always) churn out corporate ladder climbing, self-serving automatons. It is very well known that Yale prides itself on a social scene encouraging egalitarianism, service, leadership and activism. Most importantly, the relative character of Y's student body is qualitatively less bombastic and pretentious as its HP counterparts and considerably more committed to equilibrating unjust social and political systems locally and globally".

I don't know about you, but I've been to Princeton's Campus many times and every single time I go, it somehow manages to become even more amazing and astounding. The schools structures its self as breathtaking as well as the nice quiet town around it. It's reminisceent of an European town. It's not too far away from Philidelphia nor is it too far away from NYC.

Another point is that while you may argue that Princeton graduates go on to be "Corporate Ladder Climbing, Self serving automons", isn't that the goal of most ivy league graduates?? I understand that Yale is extremely politically active with presideants such as G.W.B on the list of Graduates but it is also a center for controversey. It is a well known fact in the skeptic world that Yale is the center of the Masons. There is also more skeptecism around other secret groups lurking around Yale.

I will agree with you on your other points such as the optional SAT, and the fact that the top ten are pretty much the same except for a few differences in certain areas. The honor of being in the top ten should in fact shadow placement within the group, except of course for #1.

16 and Thinking of NJ 1:27AM August 22, 2009

Yale of Ct you really don't understand the social engineering aspect of LGBTI at Princeton University. This is a landmark longterm policy and the admissions office and President and administration are all very much pro LGBTI!! There is a place for students who are both intelligent and have made positive choices in their lives. Demeaning the policy is a mistake. It should be a privilege for straight students to share the beautiful campus with the creative LGBTI community. The transgender community is well represented on campus and as the community grows the campus will benefit!! Princeton University is to be congratulated for their agressive LGBTI development not derided!!!

L.B.S of NY 9:19PM August 21, 2009

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