The U.S. News Best Colleges 2012: Who Gained and Who Lost?

Sep 12, 2011
John Willingham

Who's up in the U.S. News 2012 rankings? - Dreamstime

The U.S. News rankings for 2012 have few major surprises, but there are some interesting changes in the nation's college rankings.

In the new 2012 U.S. News Best Colleges rankings, Harvard and Princeton are tied for the top spot among national universities. In the previous year, Harvard was first and Princeton second.Ties are even more common in the current rankings than in those for 2011.

Among the top 50, the University of Miami moved up from being tied at number 47 to a tie for 38. Yeshiva University was ranked 50th in 2011 and moved up to a tie at 45. Other national universities that rose more than two places are Brandeis, from 34 to 31; Case Western Reserve, from 41 to 38; and Wisconsin, from 45 to 42.

Universities in the top 50 that dropped three or more places were Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (41 to 50), UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine. However, the UC system universities were ranked very highly overall. A change of less than four or five places may be insignificant, given the number of ties.

Among the best 100 national universities, the following showed the most positive change: Tulsa (93 to 75); Vermont (from 94 to 82); Connecticut (from 69 to 58); University of Miami (47 to 38); Michigan State (79 to 71); Northeastern (69 to 62); Pittsburgh (64 to 58); SMU (62 to 56); Texas A&M (63 to 58); and Yeshiva (50 to 45).

Negative changes in the top 100 rankings affected Miami of Ohio (38 to 47); Rensselaer Polytechnic University (41 to 50); Clark (86 to 94); Colorado (86 to 94); Marquette (75 to 82); Georgia (56 to 62); and Florida (53 to 58). Again, some of these changes indicate little actual decline; a very minor statistical change can cost a university five or six places because five or six of the universities above it may be tied in the rankings.

The Top 50 National Universities

Below see all of the top 50 national universities, with their 2011 ranking in parentheses:

1. Harvard (1)

1. Princeton (2)

3. Yale (3)

4. Columbia (4)

5. Caltech (5, tied)

5. MIT (5, tied)

5. Stanford (5, tied)

5. Chicago (5, tied)

5. Penn (5, tied)

10. Duke (9, tied)

11. Dartmouth ((9, tied)

12. Northwestern (12)

13. Johns Hopkins (13, tied)

14. Washington U. St. Louis (13, tied)

15. Brown (15, tied)

15. Cornell (15, tied)

17. Rice (17, tied)

17. Vanderbilt (17, tied)

19. Notre Dame (19)

20. Emory (20)

21. UC Berkeley (22)

22. Georgetown (21)

23. Carnegie Mellon (23, tied)

23. USC (23, tied)

25. UCLA (25, tied)

25. Virginia (25, tied)

25. Wake Forest (25, tied)

28. Michigan (29)

29. Tufts (28)

29. North Carolina (30)

31. Boston College (31, tied)

31. Brandeis (34)

33. William & Mary (31, tied)

33. NYU (33)

35. University of Rochester (37)

36. Georgia Tech (35 tied)

37. UC San Diego (35, tied)

38. Case Western Reserve (41, tied)

38. Lehigh (37, tied)

38. UC Davis (39, tied)

38. University of Miami (47)

42. UC Santa Barbara (39, tied)

42. Washington (41, tied)

42. Wisconsin (45, tied)

45. Penn State (47, tied)

45. UC Irvine (41, tied)

45. Illinois (47, tied)

45. Texas (45, tied)

45. Yeshiva (50)

50. George Washington (51, tied)

50. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. (41, tied)

50. Tulane (51, tied)

Top 25 National Liberal Arts Colleges

There were some significant changes in the top 25 national liberal arts colleges, though the first three remain the same--Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore.

Bryn Mawr rose from 30 to 25, while Smith fell from 14 to 19.

The top 25 national liberal arts colleges are listed below, with their 2011 ranking in parentheses:

1. Williams (1)

2. Amherst (2)

3. Swarthmore (3)

4. Pomona (6, tied)

5. Middlebury (4, tied)

6. Bowdoin (6, tied)

6. Carleton (8, tied)

6. Wellesley (4, tied)

9. Claremont McKenna (11)

10. Haverford (9, tied)

11. Davidson (9, tied)

12. Washington and Lee (14, tied)

12. Wesleyan (12, tied)

14. U.S. Military Academy (16, tied)

14. U.S. Naval Academy (16, tied)

14. Vassar (12, tied)

17. Hamilton (18, tied)

18. Harvey Mudd (18, tied)

19. Grinnell (18, tied)

19. Smith (14, tied)

21. Bates (21, tied)

21. Colby (23, tied)

21. Colgate (21, tied)

24. Oberlin (23, tied)

25. Bryn Mawr (30, tied)

25. Macalester (26, tied)

Top 25 Public Universities

The top 25 public universities in 2012 are listed below, with the national ranking in parentheses. The University of California system has five universities in the top ten.

1. UC Berkeley (21)

2. UCLA (25)

2. Virginia (25)

4. Michigan (28)

5. North Carolina (29)

6. William & Mary (33)

7. Georgia Tech (36)

8. UC San Diego (37)

9. UC Davis (38)

10. UC Santa Barbara (42)

10. Washington (42)

10. Wisconsin (42)

13. Penn State (45)

13. UC Irvine (45)

13. Illinois (45)

13. Texas (45)

17. Ohio State (55)

17. Maryland (55)

19. Texas A&M (58)

19. Connecticut (58)

19. Florida (58)

19. Pittsburgh (58)

23. Georgia (62)

23. Purdue (62)

25. Clemson (68)

25. Minnesota (68)

25. Rutgers (68)

The Best for Undergrad Business and Engineering

There is little change in the top undergraduate business programs in 2012. The top national programs remain the same: Penn, MIT, UC Berkeley, Michigan, Virginia; NYU, North Carolina, and Texas (tied for sixth); and Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, and USC (tied for ninth).

The best undergraduate engineering programs at national universities are MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Caltech, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Michigan, Carnegie Mellon, and Purdue.

The top engineering programs at smaller universities are Harvey Mudd and Rose-Hulman; the U.S. Military Academy; Cooper Union; U.S. Air Force Academy, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and the U.S. Naval Academy; Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering; Bucknell; and Villanova.

U.S. News used the following criteria to rank national universities: