U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. since
1933. Along with Time and Newsweek, it has been for many years a leading news weekly,
focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories. Since
1983, it has become known primarily for its influential ranking system and annual reports
of colleges and graduate schools, spanning across most fields and subjects. U.S. News
& World Report is America's oldest and best-known ranking of academic institutions, and covers
the fields of business, law, medicine, engineering, education, social sciences and public affairs,
in addition to many other areas. Its print edition is consistently included in national
bestseller lists, augmented by online subscriptions. The organization's staff is the largest dedicated
predominantly to compiling and analyzing data for ranking purposes. Additional rankings
published by U.S. News & World Report include hospitals, medical specialties and automobiles.
Starting in June 2008, the magazine reduced its publication frequency in three steps.
It switched in June 2008 from weekly to biweekly. In November 2008 it decreased to monthly.
In November 2010, it was reported that U.S News & World Report would be switched to an
online-only format, effective after it published its December issue, with the exception of
print publishing special issues on colleges, hospitals, and personal finance. Moving forward,
the publication expressed its plans to focus mainly on research and the provision of relevant
information to students pursuing higher education. Its rankings and university guide books are
available in print at the majority of bookstores and magazine vendors in the United States,
selling millions of copies on an annual basis.
History United States News was founded in 1933 by
David Lawrence, who also started World Report in 1946. The two magazines initially covered
national and international news separately, but Lawrence merged them into U.S. News & World
Report in 1948 and subsequently sold the magazine to his employees. In 1984, it was purchased
by Mortimer Zuckerman, who is also the owner of the New York Daily News.
The editorial staff of U.S. News & World Report is based in Washington, D.C., but the magazine
is owned by U.S. News & World Report, L.P., a privately held company based in the Daily
News building in New York City. Historically, the magazine has tended to be
slightly more conservative than its two primary competitors, Time and Newsweek. It also eschews
sports, entertainment and celebrity news. In 1995, the website Usnews.com was launched
providing access to all articles from the print edition.
In 2007, U.S. News published its list of the nation's best high schools for the first time.
Its ranking methodology includes state test scores and the success of poor and minority
students on these exams, and schools' performance in Advanced Placement tests.
In June 2008, citing the decline overall magazine circulation and advertising, U.S. News & World
Report announced that it will become a biweekly publication, starting January 2009. It hoped
advertisers would be attracted to the schedule, which allowed ads to stay on newsstands a
week longer. However, five months later the magazine changed its frequency again, becoming
monthly. In August 2008, U.S. News expanded and revamped
its online opinion section. The new version of the opinion page included daily new op-ed
content as well as the new Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
An internal memo was sent on November 5, 2010, to the staff of the magazine informing them
that the "December issue will be our last print monthly sent to subscribers, whose remaining
print and digital replica subscriptions will be filled by other publishers". The memo went
on to say that the publication would be moving to a primarily digital format but that it
would continue to print special issues such as "the college and grad guides, as well as
hospital and personal finance guides". America's Best Colleges
In 1983, U.S. News & World Report published its first "America's Best Colleges" report.
The rankings have been compiled and published annually since 1985 and are the most widely
quoted of their kind in the United States. These rankings are based upon data which U.S.
News & World Report collects from each educational institution, either from an annual survey
sent to each school, or from the school's website. They are also based upon opinion
surveys of university faculties and administrators who do not belong to the schools.
The popularity of U.S. News & World Report's college rankings is reflected in its 2007
release Within three days of the rankings release,
the U.S. News website received 10 million page views, compared to 500,000 average views
in a typical month Eighty percent of visitors access the ranking
section of the website directly rather than navigating via the magazine's home page
The printed issue incorporating its college rankings sells 50% more than its normal issues
at the newsstand U.S. News also publishes comprehensive college
guides in book form. Criticism of college rankings
1990s
During the 1990s, three educational institutions in the United States were involved in a movement
to boycott the U.S. News & World Report college rankings survey. The first was Reed College
which stopped submitting the survey in 1995. The survey was also criticized by Alma College,
Stanford University, and St. John's College during the late 1990s.
SAT scores play a major role in The U.S. News & World Report college rankings even though
U.S. News is not empowered with the ability to formally verify or recalculate the scores
that are represented to them by schools. Since the mid-1990s there have been many instances
documented by the popular press wherein schools lied about their SAT scores in order to obtain
a higher ranking. 2000s
On June 19, 2007, during the annual meeting of the Annapolis Group, members discussed
the letter to college presidents asking them not to participate in the "reputation survey"
section of the U.S. News & World Report survey. As a result, "a majority of the approximately
80 presidents at the meeting said that they did not intend to participate in the U.S. News
reputational rankings in the future". The statement also said that its members "have
agreed to participate in the development of an alternative common format that presents
information about their colleges for students and their families to use in the college search
process". This database will be web-based and developed in conjunction with higher-education
organizations including the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and
the Council of Independent Colleges. On June 22, 2007, U.S. News & World Report
editor Robert Morse issued a response in which he argued, "in terms of the peer assessment
survey, we at U.S. News firmly believe the survey has significant value because it allows
us to measure the 'intangibles' of a college that we can't measure through statistical
data. Plus, the reputation of a school can help get that all-important first job and
plays a key part in which grad school someone will be able to get into. The peer survey
is by nature subjective, but the technique of asking industry leaders to rate their competitors
is a commonly accepted practice. The results from the peer survey also can act to level
the playing field between private and public colleges". In reference to the alternative
database discussed by the Annapolis Group, Morse also argued, "It's important to point
out that the Annapolis Group's stated goal of presenting college data in a common format
has been tried before [...] U.S. News has been supplying this exact college information
for many years already. And it appears that NAICU will be doing it with significantly
less comparability and functionality. U.S. News first collects all these data. Then we post
the data on our website in easily accessible, comparable tables. In other words, the Annapolis
Group and the others in the NAICU initiative actually are following the lead of U.S. News".
Some higher education experts, such as Kevin Carey of Education Sector, have argued that
U.S. News and World Report's college rankings system is merely a list of criteria that mirrors
the superficial characteristics of elite colleges and universities. According to Carey, the
U.S. News ranking system is deeply flawed. Instead of focusing on the fundamental issues
of how well colleges and universities educate their students and how well they prepare them
to be successful after college, the magazine's rankings are almost entirely a function of
three factors: fame, wealth, and exclusivity". He suggests that there are more important
characteristics parents and students should research to select colleges, such as how well
students are learning and how likely students are to earn a degree.
In January 2011, U.S. News & World Report became associated with the National Council
on Teacher Quality to begin an evaluation of teacher education programs across the nation.
Because its methodology in previous rankings of teacher education programs across the country
was highly controversial, this undertaking raises serious questions about the validity
of these rankings and U.S. News as an unbiased reviewer.
America's Best Hospitals For the past 22 years, U.S. News has compiled
a list of America's Best Hospitals. Military and veterans' hospitals are excluded.
Although there are alternative rankings of U.S. hospitals that reflect routine medical
procedures, the U.S. News rankings are specifically based on a different methodology that looks
at difficult cases within 16 specialties, including cancer, diabetes & endocrinology,
ear nose & throat, gastroenterology, geriatrics, gynecology, heart & heart surgery, kidney
disorders, neurology & neurosurgery, ophthalmology, orthopedics, psychiatry, pulmonology, rehabilitation,
rheumatology, and urology. In addition to rankings for each of these specialties, hospitals
that excel in many U.S. News areas are ranked in the Honor Roll. In the 2013 rankings, Massachusetts
General Hospital displaced Johns Hopkins Hospital, which had been ranked No. 1 for 21 consecutive
years. John Hopkins regained the top place in the 2013-14 rankings.
Best Cars and Trucks Since 2007, U.S. News has developed an innovative
rankings system for new and used automobiles. The rankings span over 30 classes of cars,
trucks, SUVs, minivans, wagons, and sports cars. Each automobile receives an overall
score, as well as a performance, interior, and recommendation score to the nearest tenth
on a 1-10 scale. Scores are based on the consensus opinion of America's trusted automotive experts,
as well as reliability and safety data. U.S. News also produces annual "Best Cars for the
Money" and "Best Cars for Families" awards across approximately 20 classes of cars, trucks,
SUVs, and minivans. Money award winners are derived by combining vehicle price and five-year
cost of ownership with the opinion of the automotive press, while family awards are
tabulated by combining critics' opinions with the vehicle's availability of family-friendly
features and interior space, as well as safety and reliability data. Money and family award
winners are announced in February and March of each year, respectively.
References
External links Official website , which includes:
U.S.News & World Rankings – Rankings main website
America's Best High Schools Reviews and Rankings for the Best Cars and
Trucks Vacation Destination Guides and Rankings for
Best Travel America's Best Hospitals
America's Best Leaders U.S. News University Directory
Compiled List of Rankings from 1991-2001 U. S. News and World Report on Twitter
U.S. News and World Report on Google+ U.S. News and World Report on Facebook