The magnum opus of college ranking websites, U.S. News released their newest rankings for the 2022-2023 year with shocking results. 

Columbia University, a member of the highly prestigious and selective Ivy League, dropped a whopping 16 places, going from No. 2 to No. 18 after their recent scandal (read more about it here). 

Meanwhile, MIT edged out Harvard to become the best university in Boston, breaking their second place tie and banishing Harvard to third, a title it shares with its longtime rival Yale as well as Stanford. Princeton held onto its first place spot, rounding out the top five schools and making the common acronym  “HYPSM” (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford and MIT), devised to represent the best schools in the country, a reality.

At the bottom of the top 20s, UC Berkeley made a comeback this year, tying with UCLA at No. 20. Another notable finisher is University of Florida, now ranked No. 29 in the nation. Considered the best school in Florida and one of the best public schools in general, the University of Florida has seen a steady increase in rankings since 2017. 

Though rankings may seem like the end-all-be-all of what makes a great college, they can easily be manipulated, as Columbia demonstrated last year. People can have different experiences, no matter the college’s ranking.