What You Need to Know About the 2021 College Rankings

Every year U.S. News releases the list of the Best National Universities ranked based on a comprehensive list of factors. Here’s what to note for this year’s ranking:

1. The formula has been altered.

   • Test-blind schools are now included in the rankings, for the first year ever.

   • The weight of standardized test scores as a factor was reduced by almost 3%

   • Two new indicators were added that measure graduate indebtedness (the amount taken out in loans by the class of 2019, as well as the proportion of students that took out loans)

2. The top 3 schools have not changed their rank:

   • Princeton tops the list at #1 for the tenth year in a row.

   • Harvard remains at #2 once again.

   • Columbia, which tied for the #3 rank last year with MIT and Yale, received the number 3 spot this year, singularly.

3. Some rankings have changed

   • Last year, Stanford, University of Chicago, and University of Pennsylvania all tied for sixth. This year, UPenn has dropped to #8.

   • Northwestern was listed as #9 in the 2020 rankings, but now shares that spot with CalTech and Johns Hopkins.

   • Rice University (#16) has surpassed Cornell (#18), though they previously tied last year at #17. Both have also surpassed Notre Dame, which was ranked #9 last year, but came in at #19 this year.

Of course there are more indicators as to whether a school may be right for you or not, besides a high ranking, but the higher a school is listed on the U.S. News Best National Universities List, the more likely the application pool will be more competitive.

Stay tuned for our upcoming post on how university officials feel about these rankings.

If one of your child’s top choices rose in the ranks, or even remained at a high ranking, reach out to a member of the Ivy Link team to get connected with an expert advisor who will help your student maximize her admission chances for whichever school she is aiming for.