U.S. News ranks universities and colleges in three steps.

First, schools are grouped with similar schools in one of 10 categories, based on the Carnegie classifications. These classifications were determined by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in late 2000. American colleges and universities are grouped according to their mission as defined by factors such as the highest level of degrees conferred by discipline. Specialty schools, colleges with enrollments below 200, and schools whose undergraduate focus is on other than traditional students are not ranked. This is the generally accepted classification system for higher education.

U.S. News collapses eight of those categories into four: National Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, Universities-Master's, and Comprehensive Colleges-Bachelor's. The schools in the Universities-Master's and Comprehensive Colleges-Bachelor's categories are placed into one of four geographic regions-North, South, Midwest, and West.
Second, data on up to 15 indicators of academic quality are gathered from each school and tabulated.

Finally, colleges are ranked in their category by their total weighted score.

National Universities
There are 248 national universities in the country (162 public, 86 private), based on categories developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The universities offer a full range of undergraduate majors, as well as master's and doctoral degrees; many strongly emphasize research.

Liberal Arts Colleges
The 215 liberal arts colleges emphasize undergraduate education and award at least 50 percent of their degrees in the liberal arts.

Universities - Master's
Like the National Universities, universities - master's (as defined by the Carnegie Foundation) provide a full range of undergraduate programs and some master's level programs. They offer few, if any, doctoral programs. The 557 universities-master's are ranked within four geographic areas: North, South, Midwest, and West.

 

Resource:U.S News & World Report