Northwestern was named 10th place in U.S. News & World Report’s annual “National Universities” rankings, a one-spot drop from last year.

The list, released by U.S. News on Sept. 12, is considered the preeminent ranking of American colleges, and listed NU as the ninth-best university in the country for the past three years. The University tied with Duke University for 10th place this year; both schools were listed as ninth-best in 2021.

“Northwestern is pleased to be a Top 10 university again this year,” University spokesperson Jon Yates wrote in an email to The Daily.

Princeton University claimed the No. 1 spot in the rankings, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Stanford University and Yale University rounding out the top five. 

Across U.S. News’ other rankings for this year, NU placed 41st in undergraduate teaching, 13th in value and 303rd in social mobility. The undergraduate engineering program also earned 16th place.

The U.S. News rankings have long garnered criticism for elitism and questionable metrics used to judge schools. Colleges have also faced disapproval in their efforts to achieve a favorable ranking: Columbia University dropped from second to 18th this year after being discovered to have submitted inaccurate data. In recent years, U.S. News changed the methodology of its rankings to more heavily weigh factors like social mobility and graduation rates.

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