Fair enough. Williams and Amherst have consistently taken the #1 and #2 spots since 2004 and still appear to have a good sized lead over others, based on overall score. However, the gap is smaller for Swarthmore, and in multiple recent years Swartmore has tied for 3rd with another college.
Williams – Overall Score = 100
Amherst – Overall Score = 98
Swarthmore – Overall Score = 95
Several others – Overall Score = 93-94
The point still remains that the rankings are perpetuated by influencing which schools participating “academics” choose to mark as “distinguished” in the USNWR sponsored survey. Had there not been such a gap difference between the portion of participating survey respondents marking Swarthmore as “distinguished” and Pomona/Wellesley/Bowdoin/CMC/Carleton/… , as “distinguished,” the latter would have overtaken Swarthmore in the current rankings.