Some have admitted to rating their peers lower on purposes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Traditionally it’s been Berkeley on top and then Michigan.

Berkeley makes sense. Very well respected within the grad school community.

+1. Some of their departments are really strong.

Really all. In terms of research, Berkeley hires decorated scholars in any field imaginable. Maybe not the best for undergraduates, but Berkeley grad is the start to an impactful career

Awesome! Another rankings thread for people to lose their minds about!

Anonymous wrote:So what is the process? Just give a survey and reflect whatever it says? Are the people filling these out doing so subjectively, based on outdated stereotypes rather than current data or trends?

Here is what USNWR says:

“Peer assessment: This is a measure of how a school is regarded by top administrators at other institutions and accounts for qualitative attributes of schools that may not be fully captured by the other ranking factors. A school's peer assessment score is calculated from the weighted, two-year rolling average of ratings on academic quality it received by presidents, provosts and deans of admissions – or officials in equivalent positions – at institutions submitting a peer assessment survey administered by U.S. News.

Each survey respondent was asked to rate the overall academic quality of peer schools' undergraduate academic programs on a 5-point scale: outstanding (5), strong (4), good (3), adequate (2) or marginal (1). For example, schools in the National Universities ranking could only rate any of the other schools in the National Universities ranking. Respondents who did not know enough about a school to evaluate it fairly were asked to mark "don't know" or leave it blank, neither of which counted for or against a school's score.

U.S. News collected the most recent data by administering peer assessment surveys to schools in spring and summer 2024. Of the 4,665 academics who were sent questionnaires, 30.7% responded. The peer assessment response rate in 2024 for National Universities was 41% and for National Liberal Arts Colleges was 47%.“

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Traditionally it’s been Berkeley on top and then Michigan.

Berkeley makes sense. Very well respected within the grad school community.

+1. Some of their departments are really strong.

Anonymous wrote:Woah, Berkeley at 4.7 back then is really high. There were only 8 schools with a peer assessment score of 4.7 or higher that year.

Anyone have the latest?

4.6

Woah, Berkeley at 4.7 back then is really high. There were only 8 schools with a peer assessment score of 4.7 or higher that year.

Anyone have the latest?

Washu is 4.1 this year, and Rice is 4.2

Anonymous wrote:So what is the process? Just give a survey and reflect whatever it says? Are the people filling these out doing so subjectively, based on outdated stereotypes rather than current data or trends?

Same question here. And who, among the employees of a given college, is actually filling out the peer assessment? Not the college president, I assume, but an underling?

Some college administrators may be pretty aware of what their peer/rival schools are doing – like, who has a great new president, which college just opened up a new high-tech science building, which college is recruiting some good new faculty. And which colleges are maybe just coasting on their reps. But I imagine the awareness of all this really varies.

Anonymous wrote:Traditionally it’s been Berkeley on top and then Michigan.

Berkeley makes sense. Very well respected within the grad school community.

So what is the process? Just give a survey and reflect whatever it says? Are the people filling these out doing so subjectively, based on outdated stereotypes rather than current data or trends?

Well, not sure this will be of much help to the original poster, but 2022 was the last time I'd picked up a copy of the magazine at the bookstore.

These were the Peer Assessment scores for the 2022 Best Colleges edition (published in Sept. 2021). I know it's not the current one, but it might give OP a general sense as these peer assessment scores probably don't change all that much year over year.

2022 Rank....College Name..........2022 Peer Assess. Score (Max = 5.0)
1....................Princeton University......4.8
2....................Columbia University......4.7
2....................Harvard University........4.9
2....................Mass. Inst. of Tech........4.9
5....................Yale University..............4.8
6....................Stanford University........4.9
6....................University of Chicago.....4.6
8....................Univ. of Pennsylvania.....4.6
9....................Calif. Inst. of Tech.........4.6
9....................Duke University............4.5
9....................Johns Hopkins Univ.......4.7
9....................Northwestern Univ........4.4
13..................Dartmouth College........4.4
14..................Brown University...........4.5
14..................Vanderbilt University......4.3
14..................Washington Univ. (St.L)..4.2
17..................Cornell University...........4.6
17..................Rice University...............4.1
19..................Univ. of Notre Dame.......4.2
20..................Univ. of Calif. - LA..........4.4
21..................Emory University............4.2
22..................Univ. of Calif. - Berkeley..4.7
23..................Georgetown University....4.2
23..................University of Michigan.....4.5
25..................Carnegie Mellon Univ.......4.3
25..................University of Virginia.......4.3
27..................Univ. of Southern Calif.....3.9
28..................Wake Forest University.....3.7

That’s for publics. Cal is up there with the best of the best.

Traditionally it’s been Berkeley on top and then Michigan.

Can anyone share the Top-30 peer assessment scores for the most recent 2025 Best Colleges released this month by US News?

I'm curious to see how the top publics compare to some of the other privates in the Top-30.

And yes, before anyone asks or accuses, I am too cheap to pay for a subscription.