The latest USNWR rankings. What happened?

[merc81]

Regarding Davidson’s statement, they seemed to stretch a bit in saying,

Our standardized test scores are lower than the top 10 schools, in part because we use more reliable indicators of success, such as whether an applicant took the most challenging classes available to them and how they did.

Davidson’s CDS registers a 73% level for students reporting a HS rank in the top 10%. In comparison, colleges within the US News top 10 uncommonly report 80% or higher for this figure.