America's Best Colleges For 2018: U.S. News & World Report

The new school year is in full swing, and as high school seniors plan the next big step in their lives, their attention is no doubt on what colleges best suit their educational and career ambitions. College rankings certainly play into that decision-making as well.

For 2018, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Princeton University in New Jersey as the best national university for the seventh year in a row.

Public schools — namely the California schools and U.S. military academies — made a strong showing in the 2018 rankings. The University of California in Los Angeles tied with the University of California in Berkeley for number one public school among national universities, and the United States Military Academy at West Point ranked as the top public school among national liberal arts colleges.

Watch: Top 5 Best Universities For 2018

The top 5 national universities in the country are:
Princeton University (1)
Harvard University (2)
University of Chicago (3)
Yale University (3)
Columbia University (5)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (5)
Stanford University (5)

The top 5 national liberal arts colleges are:
Williams College (1)
Amherst College (2)
Bowdoin College (3)
Swarthmore College (3)
Wellesley College (3)

The top 5 national universities among public schools are:
University of California Berkeley (1)
University of California Los Angeles (1)
University of Virginia (3)
University of Michigan Ann Arbor (4)
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (5)

The top 5 national liberal arts colleges among public schools are:
United States Military Academy at West Point (1)
United States Naval Academy (2)
United States Air Force Academy (3)
Virginia Military Institute (4)
St. Mary’s College of Maryland (5)

In its rankings, U.S. News also took a look at student debt. It turns out 70 percent of students who graduate from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., graduate with an average of $46,779 in debt — the highest among national universities. For national liberal arts colleges, debt is highest among graduates of St. John’s University in Minnesota, where 66 percent of students graduate with average debt of $40,272 . Princeton students, it turns out, graduate with the least amount of debt among national universities, as do students of Berea College in Kentucky, when it comes to national liberal arts colleges.

U.S. News relies on various factors to determine rankings, including retention, graduation rate performance and graduation rate.

“Graduation rate performance measures how well schools are graduating their students based on our predictions, which consider spending, test scores and the proportion of students receiving Pell Grants,” U.S. News explains.

Faculty resources account for 20 percent of the rankings (factors like class size, student-to-faculty ratio), and financial resources (average spending on things that go directly toward educating undergraduates) accounts for 10 percent. Rankings are also based on expert opinion, student excellence and alumni giving.

U.S. News notes that the top national and top national liberal arts universities have significantly higher graduation and freshman retention rates than other schools. That’s a six-year graduation rate of 96 percent for the top 10 national universities and a 92.5 percent rate for top 10 national liberal arts colleges. By comparison, the figures are 71.7 percent and 75.7 percent for all numerically ranked national universities and national liberal arts colleges, respectively. Similarly, the freshman retention rate for top 10 national universities is 98.3 percent and 96.5 percent for top 10 national liberal arts colleges, compared to 87.2 percent for all numerically ranked national universities and 85.7 percent for all numerically ranked national liberal arts colleges.

What do you think of the rankings? Let us know in the comments below.

Photo by Mel Evans/Associated Press