U.S. News and World Report released its 2011 list of best colleges last week, with Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Columbia universities leading the way among national universities. After controversy surfaced over the peer-assessment portion of the survey, in which college officials fill out questionnaires about other institutions, the magazine lowered their importance and added the voices of 1,800 high school counselors in its evaluation. The 2011 survey also gives more weight to colleges’ graduation rates.
A version of this article appeared in the August 25, 2010 edition of Education Week as Harvard Tops 2011 ‘Best Colleges’ List