Harvard is the top ranked national university in U.S. News & World Report’s 2009 ranking of American colleges.

The rankings are based on surveys of college officials, graduation rates, retention rates, financial resources, student selectivity, educational resources and other factors. The top national schools in this survery are listed below:

1. Harvard
2. Princeton
3. Yale
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
4. Stanford
6. California Institute of Technology
6. University of Pennsylvania
8. Columbia University
8. Duke University
8. University of Chicago
11. Dartmouth
12. Northwestern
12. Washington University in St. Louis
14. Cornell
15. Johns Hopkins
16. Brown
17. Rice
18. Emory
18. University of Notre Dame
18. Vanderbilt
21. University of California-Berkeley
22. Carnegie Mellon University
23. Georgetown
23. University of Virginia
25. University of California - Los Angeles

Amherst College, Williams College, Swathmore College, Wellesley College and Middlebury College are the 5 highest ranked liberal arts colleges.