Since 2005, the Washington Monthly has ranked colleges based on what they do for the country. It’s our answer to U.S News & World Report, which relies on crude and easily manipulated measures of wealth, exclusivity, and prestige. We rank national universities—four-year institutions that award a significant number of doctoral degrees—based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility, research, and promoting public service.
Click here for detailed methodology, here for the rest of our rankings, and here to download the full data set.