How we rank schools
Our method and information-packed tables serve families well
Most of the data come directly from the colleges--this year, 94 percent of the schools returned surveys. We assess the data to ensure their accuracy and obtain missing data from sources such as Wintergreen/Orchard House, the American Association of University Professors, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Council for Aid to Education, and the U.S. Department of Education. Footnotes identify data that did not come from this year's survey. Estimates may be used when schools fail to report particular data points used in the rankings or when the information reported doesn't meet our data-reporting standards.
Below are brief descriptions of the seven measures we use to capture academic quality. More-detailed descriptions of our indicators, their relative weights in our ranking formula, and other aspects of our methodology are available at www.usnews.com.
Academic reputation. The U.S. News ranking formula gives greatest weight (25 percent of the final score) to undergraduate reputation because the reputational survey allows the top academics we contact (university presidents, provosts, and deans of admissions) to account for intangibles such as faculty dedication to teaching in their assessment of schools. Market Facts Inc., an opinion-research firm based near Chicago, collected the reputational data; 67 percent of the 4,087 individuals sent questionnaires responded.
Retention and graduation rates. The higher the proportion of freshmen who return to campus the following year and eventually graduate, the better a school may be at offering the classes and services students need to succeed.
Faculty resources. Research shows that the more satisfied students are with their contact with professors, the more they will learn and the more likely it is they will graduate.
Student selectivity. A school's academic atmosphere is determined in part by the abilities of the incoming students (as assessed by their test scores and class rank, among other indicators).
Financial resources. Generous per-student spending indicates that a college is able to offer a wide variety of programs and services.
Graduation rate performance (used for national universities-doctoral and liberal arts colleges-bachelor's). This indicator of "added value" captures the effect of the college's programs and policies on the graduation rate of students after controlling for spending and student aptitude.
Alumni giving rate. The percentage of alumni who gave to their school during the 1999 and 2000 academic years is an indirect measure of alumni satisfaction.
To arrive at a school's rank, we first calculated the weighted sum of its scores. The final scores were rescaled: The top school was assigned a value of 100, and the other schools' weighted scores were calculated as a proportion of that top score. Final scores for each ranked school were rounded to the nearest whole number and ranked in descending order.
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