The College also topped the list of best value for a liberal arts college, with an average price of $14,736. This is a discount of 61 percent from the full tuition.
The College community has mixed feelings about the study, but the overall response seems to be mild enthusiasm and pride in the College's place at the top.
"It's arbitrary, it's influential, it's a pain in the neck, even if you are number one," said President Tom Gerety. "It's a bigger pain in the neck, if you're not. It's a luxury that we can even scoff at it."
Some students expressed concerns about the rankings. One of the primary complaints is that the rankings are emphasized too much. "Rankings are misleading because [high school] seniors are trusting lists instead of their own instincts," said Greta Anderson '05. "I chose Amherst because I knew I'd be happiest here, regardless of the rank."
Another grievance with the study is rooted in the belief that the numbers provided by the Colleges are not entirely trustworthy. "[Admissions offices] cater to the rankings and look to boost the numbers that they provide to the researchers," said Robin Goldman '03.
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Thomas Parker responded to the issue of tampering with the statistics. "Among the top 10 liberal arts colleges, there isn't much of that," he said.
These self-reported numbers are the primary source of information for the study, and some of them cannot be verified. Also, some students are puzzled by the fact that other colleges had higher scores in many of the areas of evaluation, yet Amherst still had the highest rank.
The U.S. News website does not claim to be the authority on college choices. "The college experience consists of a host of intangibles that cannot be reduced to mere numbers," wrote Robert J. Morse and Samuel M. Flanigan in an article on the website entitled "How we rank schools."
The U.S. News article also helps to answer the question of how Amherst is number one despite lagging behind other colleges in many areas. The answer is relative weights. According to the U.S. News article, "the ranking formula gives greatest weight (25 percent) to the opinion of those in a position to judge a school's academic excellence." This refers to the peer assessment category, in which the College and Williams both score the highest in the list. The second most important area is the retention of students, and in this Amherst holds the top position.
The other areas that do not carry as much weight are faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving and graduation rate performance, which refers to the difference between the proportion of students expected to graduate and the proportion who actually do.
While many dismiss the ranking, a segment of the College community does care about the rankings. "They are a source of pride among my friends at other schools," said Carolyn Koulouris '06.
For some, the study played a part in their application choices. "The rankings were important in deciding where to apply, although not as much in determining where to enroll," said Shannon Dobson '06.
The rankings can be particularly useful for international students like Nandana Thomas '06. "The U.S. News rankings were considerably important in my selection of colleges, especially since I did not have a chance to visit here," said Thomas. "I knew I wanted to go to a liberal arts school, and this was rated the best."
Parker said that he acknowledges the weight the rankings hold with prospective students, but notes that the rankings of the top three are fairly steady.
"Amherst is always in the top three, and minor moves in the rankings don't really change the applicant pool," said Parker. "The further away from the Northeast a student lives, the more important the rankings are, especially to their parents, in the capacity of bragging rights."
U.S. News has ranked liberal arts colleges since 1983, though the rankings were semi-annual until 1987. Amherst has topped the rankings nine times, more than any other college, while Swarthmore has been first five times and Williams four.
Some students know their parents consider the rankings' importance. "My dad liked the image and prestige, but not just in connection with the ranking," said Rebecca Hillenbrand '03.
President Gerety also noted that rankings may pay a significant role for recruiting students to the school. "In admissions, you definitely see some parents who take it very seriously ... the alumni take it with a grain of salt but they pay attention."