The Latest College Rankings Have Some Familiar Schools on Top

Princeton University, Williams College and the University of California, Berkeley, are still the United States’ best university, best liberal arts college and best public university, respectively, according to the latest edition of U.S. News & World Report‘s closely watched college rankings.

The 2018 rankings released Tuesday had Princeton in first place, Harvard in second, and Yale and the University of Chicago tied for third among national universities. In the ranking of liberal arts colleges, Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., was first, followed by Amherst College in Amherst, Mass. Bowdoin College in Main, Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and Wellesley College in Massachusetts were tied for third. And on the list of best public schools, the University of California, Berkeley, maintained its long-held top spot, followed by the University of California, Los Angeles, and then the University of Virginia.

The U.S. News lists — which are closely followed each year by schools and their applicants — included data about more than 1,800 colleges, ranking 1,374 of them. Schools are evaluated on several factors, including academic quality,graduation rates, ethnic diversity on campus and faculty resources. You can view the full rankings here.