Infographic: 30 Editions of the U.S. News Best Colleges Rankings
U.S. News' process for ranking colleges has evolved since the first edition was published in the early 1980s.
A lot has changed since U.S. News released the first Best Colleges rankings on Nov. 28, 1983.
The first three editions of the rankings, released two years apart in 1983, 1985 and 1987, were based entirely on peer reputation. U.S. News mailed surveys to more than 1,300 college presidents, asking them to name the top schools in their category based on the quality of courses, professors, students and the overall academic atmosphere. More than half of the college presidents responded, and those findings were published in U.S. News & World Report's magazine. The first standalone college guidebook, "America’s Best Colleges," was printed in 1987.
Best Colleges became an annual feature in 1988. That was also the year that U.S. News began to incorporate objective data, such as a school's selectivity and resources, alongside academic reputation when calculating the rankings.
Familiar names have continued to top the rankings, despite the changes to the methodology throughout the years. Stanford University, Harvard University, Yale University and Princeton University were the top four ranked National Universities in 1983. The order of the institutions has rotated, but those four universities are ranked in the top four in the 2015 Best Colleges rankings as well.
But there have been some notable differences in higher education over the last three decades. The average enrollment at National Liberal Arts Colleges has increased about 15 percent since 1988, and that figure is more than 30 percent for National Universities. The average cost of tuition and fees at private schools has increased by more than $18,000 since 1983-1984, after adjusting for inflation, according to data from the College Board.
Today, U.S. News publishes data on nearly 1,800 colleges and universities. The college surveys include nearly 700 questions and generate close to 2,500 data points per school. In addition, U.S. News publishes daily editorial content to help families find the right school, apply to and pay for college.
The 2015 Best Colleges rankings mark the 30th
edition of U.S. News’ first rankings product. Check out the infographic below
to see how the college rankings – and higher education overall –
have changed over the last 30 years.
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