| Its true that US News relies on quantifiable measures, but the numbers they use are provided by the schools themselves. No need to go again into the criticisms of Wash U's manipulation of numbers. Whether you agree with these criticisms or not, it is something that schools have the ability to do. It would be much harder to manipulate and as Kmatimber2 notes in a way more meaningful to look at what students independently post on the internet about the learning experience at their respective schools.
As to those who criticize Forbes ranking of certain schools, keep in mind the criticism of US News when it rates Wash U. over Brown, NU, UVA, Georgetown etc. |