Best Schools? The Alt Guides

By Jeninne Lee-St. John

It's a fall tradition. U.S. News & World Report's best-colleges guide hits newsstands--in the new edition, Harvard and Princeton tie for best university, and Williams takes the top liberal-arts slot--and sets off the annual controversy over how the magazine ranks schools. But this year the granddaddy of college ratings has a slew of new competitors. A guide to the alternatives. --By Jeninne Lee-St. John

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.] WASHINGTON MONTHLY STUDENTS' GUIDE ROLLING STONE Criteria for rankings How well schools foster public spiritedness, social mobility and community and military service in their graduates Surveys 30,000 college kids and posts lists on studentsguide.com like top traditional-values and sleep-deprived schools Ranks top music departments as well as best concert venues, radio stations and record stores Top schools M.I.T. is No. 1 university, thanks to research and ROTC participation Berea and Kenyon are among Top 10 Schools You've Never Heard Of The two top music-business schools: N.Y.U. and Belmont University Where U.S. News' winners rank Princeton lags at No. 44 because relatively few Tigers receive Pell Grants With its purple-cow mascot, Williams makes the Most Spirited Top 10 Another plus for Harvard: Boston is deemed one of the Top 10 music scenes Extra credit California state schools UCLA, Berkeley and San Diego all make the Top 10 Best euphemism: Top 10 Fun-Loving Schools (e.g., Holy Cross and Bucknell) Free Napster access at 12 schools, including U.N.C. and Vanderbilt