MIT Unseats Princeton for No. 1 in US News National College Rankings

Princeton University, after 15 consecutive years at the top of the U.S. News and World Report’s annual rankings of national universities, is now No. 2 on the list.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which has been ranked No. 2 for the past five years, moved ahead of Princeton in the 2027 edition published on Monday.

MIT’s neighbor, Harvard University, ranked third, followed by Ivy League peer Yale University. The California Institute of Technology and Stanford University tied for fifth place.

One of the biggest changes in the 2027 rankings is a new factor called “Earnings by Major,” which replaces a previous measure focused on graduates’ student loan debt.

Using data from the Department of Education’s College Scorecard, the metric looks at median earnings four years after graduation for students who received federal financial aid.

Graduates’ earnings are compared with typical earnings in the same fields of study. The results are then combined to produce an institution-wide score.

U.S. News acknowledged that differences in earnings among academic fields cannot be completely eliminated from the calculation. However, it said comparing graduates within the same majors provides a clearer picture of the value an institution adds.

Focusing on recipients of federal financial aid, U.S. News said, also helps minimize the influence of family financial advantages students may have had before enrolling.

MIT ranked first specifically on the new earnings-by-major metric. Caltech ranked second and also made one of the biggest moves in the overall rankings, climbing from No. 11 last year to a tie for fifth.

Princeton, meanwhile, ranks eighth for Earnings by Major, according to student newspaper The Daily Princetonian.

U.S. News said student outcomes account for more than half of a university’s overall score. Other factors include graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, financial resources, student performance, and assessments from academic peers.

In the final rankings, where schools receive a score out of 100, MIT scored a perfect 100, compared with 99 for Princeton and 96 for Harvard.

MIT’s rise to No. 1 in the U.S. News list follows strong performances in other major college rankings.

The university also topped Forbes’s 2027 America’s Top Colleges list, which evaluates factors including alumni earnings, academic success, student debt, and return on investment. Princeton placed second on that list.

MIT also ranked first in Niche’s 2027 Best Colleges in America list. Stanford was second, followed by Yale and Harvard, with Princeton at No. 5. Niche bases its rankings on academic, admissions, financial, and student-life data, as well as reviews from students and alumni.

Princeton nevertheless retained the No. 1 position in U.S. News’ separate ranking of Best Value Schools among national universities.

Princeton did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest U.S. News rankings.

Christopher Eisgruber, president of the New Jersey Ivy, has long questioned the relevancy of college rankings, even while his school was dominating those lists.

In a 2021 Washington Post opinion piece, Eisgruber called the rankings business a “slightly daft obsession” that can cause harm when colleges, students, and parents take the placements too seriously.

Instead, he argued that prospective students would be better served by looking at measures of post-graduation outcomes—which are available through the Education Department’s College Scorecard—rather than focusing too much on a university’s numerical position.