This year, Harvard University regained sole possession of the top spot in U.S.News & World Report's Best Colleges 2011 rankings of national universities. Last year, Harvard and Princeton University tied for first, but Princeton fell to second in the 2011 rankings of these large, research-oriented institutions. Williams College can once again boast that it's the nation's top-ranked national liberal arts college —a category of schools that place a higher emphasis on undergraduate education—as it ranked a spot ahead of fellow Massachusetts liberal arts school Amherst College for the second consecutive year.
This marks the 27th year that U.S. News has published college rankings. Though the top-ranked schools garner much acclaim, the rankings aren't produced simply to benefit students who are considering attending institutions like Harvard and Williams. U.S. News uses its array of college data to provide insight to students of various academic and socioeconomic backgrounds. There is a list of the best schools for B students, rankings of historically black colleges and universities, as well as rankings of the most diverse national universities. And though the worst of the financial crisis seems to have passed, finding value in the increasingly expensive world of higher education is still one of the most important — if not the most important —factors in choosing a school. To meet that need, U.S. News has compiled best value lists for national universities and national liberal arts colleges, which rank schools based on the average cost of attending — after need-based grants are taken into account — relative to their academic ranking.
The National Universities and National Liberal Arts Colleges lists are just two of several sets of rankings that are a part of U.S. News's evaluation of Best Colleges. Regional colleges and universities, which tend to draw heavily from their local area, and tend to have sparse doctoral program offerings, are ranked separately. Villanova University, Rollins College, Creighton University, and Trinity University are the top-ranked Regional Universities — schools that offer degrees up to the master's level and were ranked as "Master's Universities" in the past — in the North, South, Midwest and West, respectively. The top-ranked Regional Colleges — schools that offer bachelor's degrees and were classified as "Baccalaureate Colleges" in previous rankings — are the United States Coast Guard Academy in the North, Ouachita Baptist University in the South, Taylor University in the Midwest, and the United States Air Force Academy in the West.
Though California's public educational system is plagued by financial unrest and budget cutbacks, two of the state's schools are ranked as the top public national universities. The University of California-Berkeley, which is the 22nd ranked national university, is the top-ranked public school, followed by the University of California-Los Angeles. Rounding out the top five publics: University of Virginia, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Though schools at the top of the rankings deserve praise for their sterling academic standards, they shouldn't receive all of the credit. U.S. News asked college administrators to name schools they believe to have made sharp improvements to their academics and campus facilities. Based on the results, U.S. News ranked the top "Up and Comers" across several categories. The University of Maryland-Baltimore County was determined to be the fastest-improving national university and Hendrix College earned top billing for National Liberal Arts Colleges. The best up-and-coming Regional Universities are Wagner College in the North, Elon University in the South, Butler University in the Midwest and Abilene Christian University in the West.
 Jorge Antonio/iStockPhoto | 1. Harvard University City: Cambridge, MA Total Enrollment: 19,411 2010-2011 Tuition and Fees: $38,416 Application Deadline: 1/1 |
 Jeffrey MacMillan for USN&WR | 2. Princeton University City: Princeton, NJ Total Enrollment: 7,592 2010-2011 Tuition and Fees: $36,640 Application Deadline: 1/1 |
 Jeffrey MacMillan for USN&WR | 3. Yale University City: New Haven, CT Total Enrollment: 11,593 2010-2011 Tuition and Fees: $38,300 Application Deadline: 12/31 |
©Columbia University
 Jim Lo Scalzo for USN&WR | 5. Stanford University (tie) City: Stanford, CA Total Enrollment: 18,498 2010-2011 Tuition and Fees: $39,201 Application Deadline: 1/1 |
 AP Photo/Mark Stehle | 6. University of Pennsylvania(tie) City: Philadelphia, PA Total Enrollment:19,311 2010-2011 Tuition and Fees: $40,514 Application Deadline: 1/1 |
 ©CalTech | 7. California Institute of Technology(tie) City: Pasadena, CA Total Enrollment:2,130 2010-2011 Tuition and Fees: $36,282 Application Deadline: 1/1 |
 Jeffrey MacMillan for USN&WR | 7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (tie) City: Cambridge, MA Total Enrollment: 10,384 2010-2011 Tuition and Fees: $39,212 Application Deadline: 1/1 |
 Joseph Mehling/Dartmouth College | 9. Dartmouth College (tie) City: Hanover, NH Total Enrollment: 5,987 2010-2011 Tuition and Fees: $40,437 Application Deadline: 1/1 |
 Red Moon Rise/iStockPhoto | 10. Duke University (tie) City: Durham, NC Total Enrollment: 14,350 2010-2011 Tuition and Fees: $40,472 Application Deadline: 1/2 |
 ©University of Chicago | 11. University of Chicago (tie) City: Chicago, IL Total Enrollment: 12,332 2010-2011 Tuition and Fees: $41,091 Application Deadline: 1/2 |
 stevegeer/iStockphoto | 12. Northwestern University City: Evanston, IL Total Enrollment: 18,834 2010-2011 Tuition and Fees: $40,247 Application Deadline: 1/1 |
 Courtesy of Johns Hopkins Medicine | 13. Johns Hopkins University (tie) City: Baltimore, MD Total Enrollment:20,483 2010-2011 Tuition and Fees: $40,680 Application Deadline: 1/1 |
 AP Photo/Kyle Ericson | 13. Washington University in St. Louis (tie) City: St. Louis, MO Total Enrollment:13,575 2010-2011 Tuition and Fees: $40,374 Application Deadline: 1/15 |
 John Abromowski/Brown University | 15. Brown University (tie) City: Providence, RI Total Enrollment: 8,574 2010-2011 Tuition and Fees: $40,820 Application Deadline: 1/1 |
 Jeffrey MacMillan for USN&WR | 15. Cornell University (tie) City: Ithaca, NY Total Enrollment: 20,633 2010-2011 Tuition and Fees: $39,666 Application Deadline: 1/2 |
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