<p>I challenge anyone (including Mr. Morse) to provide MEANINGFUL distinctions between U S News’ (say) #1 and #3 or its #10 and #12 (in any category). I suppose I’d be slightly less skeptical if U S News arrayed its conclusions in somewhat broad bands (for example: H, Y, P, and S in band one; Columbia, MIT, Penn, Chicago, Duke, and CalTech in band two; and so forth). </p>