The Interfolio Blog

The much anticipated college and university rankings for 2009 are out from US News & World Report.  The top 10 are as follows:

1. Princeton
2. Harvard
3. Yale
4. California Institute of Technology
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
6. Stanford University 
7. University of Pennsylvania
8. Columbia University
9. University of Chicago
10. Duke University

There wasn't too much shift from past years, with Princeton now sharing the top position alongside Harvard, and consistent risers like UCLA slowly moving up the ranks.

Curious how these findings are gathered? TIME interviewed Robert Morse, director of data research at U.S. News and a two-decade veteran of the controversial rankings, about how the list is put together and how it could be better.

One interesting question that was addressed was to ask if Morse has considered adding alumni earnings to the rankings formula, along the lines of the PayScale rankings.

"Yes. We have earnings in two of our rankings. In our MBA rankings, we have earnings data. In our law rankings, we have [job] placement data. There were issues about that, that [PayScale] was giving credit for somebody's salary for their undergraduate vs. their graduate degree. That's a problem with using it. But obviously people care. It's important how much money people make and the value of degrees. Students are graduating with debts, and they have to pay them back."

There are also several specific rankings included in the reporting, such as liberal arts colleges and business programs.  For the complete list, check out the main page.