Add, in each separate category, the schools are ranked. This makes the list different for national universities, master’s universities, liberal arts colleges, etc… Each list has a top, tier 3, and tier 4.

A school could move up or down the tiers simply by changing categories. For example, a small liberal arts college would not score very high if they were compared to the national universities. A national university would score very high on the list of bachelor’s comprehensive colleges.

The thing is, each of those lists is different. The schools on the separate lists can’t be fairly compared to each other because they are different types of schools.

U. Mo. – Columbia is 88 on the national universities list. That doesn’t place them higher than number one on the liberal arts college list – those are different types of college. It does place them lower than 87 other national universities though.

Top 100 on the national U list is a pretty nice place to be though.

Some schools are so specialty driven that they aren’t ranked at all. The Juliard School is an example.

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php

you’ll have to google it though, they make you pay for the other listings besides the top tier (120ish schools) on the website… or just go to the bookstore..

Tiered ranking are listed somewhere on their site