U.S. News publishes the numerical ranks of approximately the top 75 percent of schools in each of the categories. The remaining schools are placed in the bottom, or second, tier based on their overall score in their category. Schools in the second tier are labeled as Rank Not Published and listed alphabetically on usnews.com.
The second tier, also referred to as Tier Two, is approximately the bottom 25 percent of schools in a given category. In other words, schools listed in Tier Two are ranked lower than all those that are numerically ranked.
U.S. News believes that the data are complete enough to numerically rank schools in the top 75 percent of each category, given the robust methodology.
Another key reason U.S. News can rank that many schools numerically is that the quality of the data collected has improved over the years, in part because of U.S. News' ability to get data from other public sources, such as the U.S. Department of Education, for schools that don't report their data voluntarily.
These extended rankings also reduce ranking volatility, since schools are less likely to drop in and out of the numerical rankings from year to year.
The numerical ranks for schools in Tier Two are not published since the data is not as complete and U.S. News wants the numerical rankings to emphasize the top schools. U.S. News has calculated numerical ranks for schools listed as Rank Not Published and will give that information to the schools if they request it.
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Originally Posted by HogDawg
