College Rankings | featured news

Princeton scores top marks and edged past Williams College in Massachusetts and California's Stanford University in a new ranking of the top colleges in the United States released on Wednesday.

The visual appeal of spectacular campuses comes through varying combinations of awe-inspiring architecture, landscaping and surroundings.

Harvard University received the No. 1 spot on US News & World Report's 2012 rankings of top US academic research institutions, followed by Princeton University and Yale University.

While it's hard to claim there is a single 'best' school since different students look for different things, our rankings reflect that. Instead there are lists of bests from most desirable small schools to best for brainiacs, jocks and the service-minded.