U.Va. reclaims No. 1 U.S. News ranking

We're No. 1 again, at least according to U.S. News and World Report.

The magazine's controversial annual national ranking of colleges and universities listed U.Va. and the University of California-Berkeley as co-No. 1's among the nation's public universities. Last year, U.Va. was second to Berkeley after several years atop the public rankings.

In the overall rankings, Virginia moved up to 20th from 22nd last year. Princeton, Harvard and Yale topped the charts.

A closer look at the rankings shows that U.Va. has the highest graduation rate among public universities, and the 13th-highest overall. The School of Engineering and Applied Science's rank improved five spots to 27th nationally, while the McIntire School of Commerce tied for eighth nationally.

The University of Virginia's College at Wise placed second on U.S. News' list of the South's best public liberal arts schools, just behind Mississippi University for Women. The list includes 130 schools from Virginia south and from Mississippi east.

In another national ranking, the October issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance listed U.Va. as the No. 2 public university based on a combination of educational quality and cost. The magazine picked the top 100 schools based upon graduation rates, student-faculty ratios and instructional and library funding, then ranked the 100 on a combination of quality, cost and financial aid measures. The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill topped Kiplinger's list.