Princeton University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University took the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 slots respectively in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of best colleges.
The 2025 rankings mark the second year in a row that those three institutions landed in the top three spots, in the same order. Stanford tied for third place last year, but this year dropped to fourth.
Topping U.S. liberal arts institutions for 2025 were, in order, Williams College and Amherst College, both in Massachusetts, and Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.
After touting methodology changes for last year’s rankings, U.S. News & World Report’s criteria and weightings remained largely unchanged this year.
“Those who crave stability … will be glad to learn that 117 of these schools stayed exactly in place in this edition, compared to just 80 the year before,” the media outlet said, citing fewer methodological changes this year over last.
Of the 660 institutions that had dropped in ranking last year, 278 fell for a second consecutive year, while 302 moved up and 80 stayed put, U.S. News said.
As for the 692 colleges that previously gained rank, 319 rose again while 314 dropped and 59 stayed the same.
Ranking changes didn’t favor public or private schools, U.S. News said, although it noted more colleges that reported standardized test data rose rather than declined. “This may indicate testing-oriented schools performing slightly better than before, resulting from the latest adjustment to how SAT/ACT scores were assessed,” the outlet said.
U.S. News did make some tweaks to its methodology, including nixing six-year bachelor's graduation rates of first-generation students for its national universities category and removing first-generation student graduation rates for historically Black institutions.
In the latter case, U.S. News said the change had minimal impact on top-line rankings, but added that “we still believe our calculations for the overall rankings and especially the Top Performers on Social Mobility rankings would be stronger with a multifaceted approach to assessing how well students with a low propensity to graduate were served.”
Some of the biggest movers in the 2025 rankings among national universities were D’Youville University, in New York, which leaped 61 spots; the University of Texas–San Antonio, which jumped 49 spots; and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, which also rose by 49 spots.
Among other notable moves, Northwestern University, in Illinois, tied with Duke and Johns Hopkins universities to hit its highest-ever rank of sixth among national universities (up from a tie at No. 9 last year). Florida International University, meanwhile, broke into the top 100 national universities for the first time, coming in tied at No. 98, up from tying for No. 124 last year.
Now in its 40th iteration, the rankings have sparked criticism from higher education officials who say they don’t fully show their institution’s value. Yet the list remains influential among students as well as institutions. For colleges, it serves as a benchmark against peers along with the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard and other measures.
The Carnegie Classifications, which groups like institutions, has also made methodological changes in recent years to include social and economic mobility metrics. Updated classifications are due to be released in 2025.
