MIT stands fourth in the nation in the latest US News and World Report ranking of national research-oriented colleges and universities.
Last spring, in a separate survey of graduate schools, the magazine named MIT the top engineering school in the country for the fourth consecutive year and rated a number of the Institute's graduate programs among the best in the nation.
The magazine's 1994 College Guide to "America's Best Colleges," published this week, moves MIT up a step from last year's ratings, when it was tied with the California Institute of Technology for fifth place.
The new rankings have Harvard, Princeton and Yale ahead of MIT, leave Caltech in fifth place and lower Stanford to sixth. Rounding out the top 10, in order, are Duke University, Dartmouth College, University of Chicago and Cornell University.
To arrive at its rankings of 204 national research-oriented schools (there were other categories as well), the magazine combined a school's academic reputation-obtained through a survey of college presidents, deans and admissions directors-with data on its students, faculty, financial resources and alumni satisfaction.
MIT rated highest in academic reputation along with Harvard, Princeton and Stanford.
The new guide also includes graduate school rankings because "schools with outstanding graduate departments usually also offer first-rate undergraduate programs."
Similar to those published last spring, they place MIT first in chemistry, tied for first in economics, computer science and mathematics, tied for second in physics and biology, second in geology, seventh in political science and 13th in psychology. The spring graduate school ratings also placed the Sloan School sixth in management.
A version of this article appeared in the September 29, 1993 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 38, Number 8).
