Education and Career Reference Sources: A Guide: Ratings & Rankings

Latest year shelved behind the Olin Reference desk.
Washington: U.S. News and World Report, 1988- .
Available online with limited data: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges.
This report by the editors and reporters of U.S. News and World Report ranks around 1,400 colleges and universities according to a survey completed by college presidents and deans who rated similar institutions: (national universities, national liberal arts colleges, regional colleges and universities, regional liberal arts colleges, and specialized institutions). The methodology used in the ranking is also included in the report. The rankings are based on: reputation, student admissions, faculty and financial resources, graduation rates and alumni satisfaction. Includes a directory of colleges and universities and news articles covering college admissions, costs, and profiles of current students.

Latest year shelved behind the Olin Reference desk. Print version ceased publication with 2018 edition.
Washington: U.S. News and World Report, 1994- .
Available online with limited data: https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools.
An annual report that ranks major graduate school programs in the U.S. Additional article highlighting specific disciplines varies from year to year.

Edited by Susan McWilliams and John E. Seery. Albany: State University of New York Press, [2015].
Rather than a reference guide to individual institutions, this is a thoughtful collection of essays on the nature of a liberal arts education from inside those colleges.

Online only.
[Washington]: The Education Trust, 2005- .
This excellent web site "examines overall graduation rates and see how those rates have changed over time." Contains comparative and individual institutional data on college and university graduate rates overall and for diverse groups of students. Comparisons of the graduation rates of similar institutions -- colleges and universities that share many characteristics and serve similar student populations--are available. Colleges and universities are required by law to collect this information.

Detroit: Gale Research, 1991-2006.
Ceased publication in 2006.
Annotated citations to thousands of sources that rank institutions of higher education according to admissions selectivity, alumni achievement, test scores, tuition rates, faculty publications and salaries, as well as other topics regarding the the potential quality of education.

New York: St. Martin's, 1970-2015.
Ceased publication in 2015.
Compiled and edited by the staff of The Yale Daily News, this guide is "the inside story from students at colleges coast-to-coast." Two-page highly subjective narrative descriptions of over 280 colleges and universities dominate the guide; inclusion was based on academic quality first and then on size of the school (the size emphasized in the most recent edition is the large university).