NEWS

Princeton University remains the top national university according to the annual U.S. News & World Report 2017 Best Colleges Rankings.

The annual survey, released Tuesday, assesses more than 18,000 U.S. based colleges and universities, of which 1,374 are ranked.

Princeton University was followed closely byHarvard University. The University of Chicago, which was ranked ninth ten-years-ago, tied with Yale University for the third best national college this year.

“Johns Hopkins has had a similar jump – from No. 16 a decade ago to making the top 10 for the past two years,” Robert Morse, chief data strategist at U.S. News said in an email. “Both schools have risen as a result of improving their graduation and freshman retention rates, as well as their SAT/ACT score.”

The institutions receive rankings based on some 15 measures of academic quality, including retention, graduation rate performance, faculty resources, financial resources, and alumni giving.

This year, U.S. News modified the way it factored class size into the methodology to more accurately reflect class sizes at different campuses.

The report ranks colleges and universities within several categories, including  National Universities, National Liberal Arts Colleges, Regional Universities and Regional Colleges and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

You can find the complete rankings here.