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MIT Takes Top Spot in U.S. News College Rankings, Ending Ivy League School's 15-Year Run
On Tuesday, U.S. News & World Report released its 2027 Best Colleges rankings, naming the Massachusetts Institute of Technology the nation's top school and displacing Princeton University after a 15-year reign.
To address public concerns regarding higher education affordability and long-term value, the publication introduced a new 'Earnings by Major' metric this year, replacing the graduate indebtedness measure to evaluate federal financial aid recipients.
Because schools were evaluated against a different peer group, the 2027 rankings 'cannot be directly compared to prior years,' U.S. News stated, and roughly 20% of previously ranked institutions moved to new slots.
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign rose to tie for 34th place nationally, while the University of Illinois Chicago tied for 95th and the Illinois Institute of Technology and Loyola University Chicago tied for 121st.
Critics and publishers remain divided on the list's utility, with Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber once calling the rankings a 'slightly daft obsession' while U.S. News editor LaMont Jones defended them as providing 'clear, actionable data.