USC leaps to No. 23 in university rankings

President Steven Sample's final year pushes USC past UCLA to highest ever finish

By Matt Schrader | August 18, 2010

The highly anticipated U.S. News and World Report list of the best colleges in the nation was released Tuesday, and Trojans had a lot to be excited about.

USC shot up three spots from last year — the biggest jump among the Elite 25 — to the No. 23 academic school in the country, tied with Carnegie Mellon University.

The ranking is the highest USC has ever received in the annual rankings, and solidifies former president Steven Sample’s legacy on academics at USC.

But the sweetest part for many Trojans may be that among the teams leapfrogged was bitter crosstown rival UCLA, which finished No. 25.

Topping the list was Harvard University, with Princeton and Yale at Nos. 2 and 3 and Columbia and Stanford rounding out the top five.

Read the full list on U.S. News and World Report.

The rankings are published annually and are based on a variety of categories, including undergraduate academic reputation, graduation and freshman retention, faculty resources, student selectivity and financial resources, among other things.