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Harvard Reclaims No. 1 Rank

The Associated Press

Published: August 22, 2008

Harvard University is the country's oldest, wealthiest and most selective university. Now it's back on top of the U.S. News & World Report college rankings, claiming sole possession of the No. 1 spot for the first time in 12 years.

Princeton slips to No. 2, ending eight straight years of at least sharing the top ranking.

The latest edition hits newsstands Monday, but was to be published today on the magazine's Web site.

Yale follows at No. 3, and MIT and Stanford tie for fourth.

The University of California, Berkeley is the highest-ranked public university, at No. 21 overall.

In a separate list for liberal arts colleges, Amherst moves up one spot to tie Williams, its rival just up the road in Massachusetts, for the top spot.

In an e-mailed statement, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences spokesman Robert Mitchell said that "it is always nice to be recognized in this way. However, our admissions officers always tell prospective students that they should select a college or university that best suits their needs, not by its position in a ranking."

The ranking formula takes account of factors such as SAT scores, peer reputation, selectivity and alumni giving.

So how did Harvard edge past its Ivy League rival? A comparison of last year's numbers points to one category where it moved ahead of Princeton - average class size.

Harvard reports the percentage of students in classes under 20 students rose from 69 percent to 75 percent since last year's report, while the percentage in classes bigger than 50 fell from 13 percent to 9 percent.

Asked whether Harvard had made a particular effort to reduce class sizes, Mitchell said: "We have worked and will continue to work very hard to enhance the academic experience for undergraduate students."

Since 2000, he said, Harvard has added 86 freshman seminars (which have fewer than 12 students), and more than 100 tenure-track faculty, while its student body size has stayed about the same.

Debuting this year are rankings identifying "Up and Comers" - innovative institutions that college officials identify as poised to move up in the rankings in the coming years.

Topping that list are George Mason University in Virginia, Clemson in South Carolina, the University of Southern California and Arizona State.

TOP COLLEGES

Top-ranked national universities in the 2009 edition of "America's Best Colleges" from U.S. News & World Report (last year's ranking in parentheses):

1. Harvard University (2)

2. Princeton University (1)

3. Yale University (3)

4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (7)

4. Stanford University (4)

6. California Institute of Technology (5)

6. University of Pennsylvania (5)

8. Columbia University (9)

8. Duke University (8)