U.S. colleges and universities are governed by many traditions – including the annual U.S. News Best Colleges rankings, which list schools based on a variety of factors, like graduation rates and reputation.

This year’s rankings hit the streets on Sept. 22, 2026. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology topped the list of national universities, and Williams College ranked first among the list of national liberal arts colleges.

Princeton University, meanwhile, slipped out of the top spot among research universities after holding that first position for 15 years. And Amherst College, where I teach political science and law, seems stuck in second place behind archrival Williams – a position it has occupied for more than a decade.

Some people think that the rankings are skewed, rewarding prominent colleges and universities for little more than their wealth. However, for less prestigious and less wealthy schools, the rankings can be consequential, giving them visibility they might not otherwise have.

As higher education economists James Monks and Ronald G. Ehrenberg have noted, a low ranking can lead a school to “accept a greater percentage of its applicants.” It can also mean that “a smaller percentage of its admitted applicants matriculate, and the resulting entering class is of lower quality, as measured by its average SAT scores.”

As someone who follows and writes about developments in higher education, I think the picture of college rating systems’ impact is not all gloom and doom, not to be treated as if they were solely to blame when colleges pay undue attention to things that affect their rank rather than the quality of the........

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