Each year, the United States News and World report issues college rankings. These ranking lists are the most popular and are the officially recognized university rankings for all American colleges and universities. These college rankings are divided into multiple sections:
National Universities
-> Top Schools (public and private)
-> Top Public Schools
-> Most Diverse
Liberal Arts Colleges
-> Top Schools (public and private)
-> Top Public Schools
-> Most Diverse
Best Values
-> National Universities
-> Liberal Arts Colleges
Within each of these categories the colleges have been assessed by location, value, subject and school type to produce the final college rankings. These are often used by potential students and their parents to ascertain which of the colleges they most wish to apply for. The college rankings may seem simplified but they do give a good starting point in the overwhelming process of searching for the perfect college.
To produce the college rankings each school is assigned to one of the above groups. The National Universities group for 2005 includes 248 American universities (162...