For the fifth year in a row, U.S. News and World Report ranked Dartmouth ninth in its annual "America's Best Colleges" report released Tuesday.
Harvard and Princeton again buoyed the rankings in a tie for the number one school. Rounding out the top 10 were Yale in third place, University of Pennsylvania in fourth, Duke, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford tied for fifth, California Institute of Technology in eight, and Dartmouth tied with Columbia for ninth.
The rankings take into account many quantitative factors including average graduation rate, average educational expenditures per student, SAT/ACT scores and faculty compensation. However, the single largest factor in the rankings is the peer assessment score, which comprises 25 percent of the overall ranking.
While top-ranked Harvard and Princeton received peer assessment scores of 4.9 (out of five), Dartmouth's 4.4 peer assessment score was one factor keeping the College in its perennial ninth spot.
"The U.S. News ranking formula gives greatest weight to the opinion of those in a position to judge a school's academic excellence," Richard Folkers, director of media relations for U.S. News said. "We contact presidents, provosts and deans of admissions at peer institutions to account for intangibles such as faculty dedication to teaching. In the last 20 years we have found that the professional standing of a school, as determined by its peer institutions, is an important thing to look at."
Dartmouth ranked well in graduation rate (fourth), selectivity rank (10th), financial resources rank (11th), and alumni giving rate (third). However, Dartmouth did not fare as well in the faculty resources rank (20th). According to the rankings, Dartmouth displays a 9 to 1 student to faculty ratio, with only 56 percent of classes under 20 -- the lowest percentage of the top 13 schools. However, Dartmouth does have only 9 percent of classes over 50, which betters both Harvard and Princeton.
Each year college admissions offices across the country openly question the methodology and usefulness of the rankings. However, Folkers dismissed these allegations, calling the rankings "a tool designed to help students find a school that's right for them. That's why we give all of those categories, because the overall ranking is not the only important factor," he said.
Dartmouth also ranked 28th in most students studying abroad, with 56 percent.
University of California-Berkeley was named the top public university in the country, while Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., was again ranked as the top liberal arts school in the country. In addition to ranking eighth overall, Cal Tech was also recognized as the best value national university.
