[kevin_thibedeau]

Which really proves nothing since the US News rankings are heavily biased toward perceived excellence, other non-objective measures, and objective measures that have no bearing on how well students are actually being educated. Is there really something so special about UWs curriculum that sets them apart from #20 or #100 or do they just have fancier gymnasiums and dorms and more donations from alums?

[vedant]

The main correlate is the impact of faculty output. This also is not necessarily correlated with the quality of the education students receive. But then, department rankings shouldn't necessarily reflect the quality of the education either.