US News and World Report uses the Carnegie Foundation’s ranking for the Advancement of Teachings 2006. The magazine takes Carnegie’s nine categories and collapses them into 4.
National Universities – 262
Liberal Arts Colleges – 266
Universities – Masters (only ranks undergraduate programs) – 572
Baccalaureate Colleges – 319
The Universities – Masters and the Baccalaureate colleges are then broken into four regions.
To see where your choices rank, follow this link. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges
Remember however, that selecting a college is a very personal decision. See the earlier posts on college selection for more tips.