Best Colleges 2017

U.S. News & World Report released the 2017 edition of Best Colleges. The annual list helps students compare the academic quality of US schools, and this year, it included data on nearly 1,800 colleges, focusing on academic excellence and graduation and retention rates.

According to the report, the top 5 schools in the Best National Universities category are:

1. Princeton 
2. Harvard 
3. University of Chicago 
4. Yale
5. Columbia 

In the Top Public Schools category, the top 5 are:

• University of California—​Berkeley 
• University of California—​Los Angeles 
• University of Virginia 
• University of Michigan—​Ann Arbor 
• University of North Carolina—​Chapel Hill 

You can see the full report here.

Do ranking matter when choosing a college? 

A 2012 poll of 846 college-bound students shows college rankings do matter after all — at least to two-thirds of prospective college students:

The report also showed that students with the highest SAT scores (1300 and above) tend to be more reliant on college rankings when selecting their prospective college. The majority of students turn to the US News and World report (58 percent) and Princeton Review (21 percent) to help them in their decision.

Respondents in the survey also said that they discussed rankings with family and friends (56 percent and 54 percent respectively); 30 percent discussed the rankings with their high school college guidance counselor and 24 percent with their high school teachers.

But what makes college rankings so important?

According to 83 percent of respondents, rankings matter the most to students who are interested in “prestige and status;” 63 percent see rankings as “very important in trying to sort out the differences between colleges.”

And a 2014 study done by the researchers at Columbia and New York University found that “changes in academic and quality-of-life reputations affect the number of applications received by a college and the academic competitiveness and geographic diversity of the ensuing incoming freshman class. Colleges receive fewer applications when peer universities earn high academic ratings.”

What do you think? Do rankings matter to you when choosing a college?

Tell us your opinion in the comments section below.