Preview: Methodology Changes for 2014 Best Colleges Rankings
By Robert Morse
 
One of the methodology changes in the 2014 Best Colleges rankings is a reduction in the importance of high school class standing.

The 2014 U.S. News Best Colleges rankings will launch on usnews.com on Tuesday, Sept. 10. For these new rankings, we made significant changes to the methodology to reduce the weight of input factors that reflect a school's student body and increase the weight of output measures that signal how well a school educates its students.

Public colleges and universities are typically operated under the supervision of state governments and are funded, in part, by tax dollars and subsidies from the state. As a result, these universities often offer free or discounted tuition to students considered residents of the state. Public schools run the gamut from small liberal arts colleges to large research institutions. These are the highest ranked public colleges and universities in the 2014 Best Colleges rankings, listed according to their ranking category.