<p>Really. UC has always been third tier (listed alphabetically as falling somewhere between 120 and 180) since I started looking at the rankings. This year, USN&WR extended individual rankings down past 200, and UC was listed at 156. It just seems as though this change in rankings has given the impression of jumping into tier 1, when they’re really just pretty much where they’ve always been. Tier 1 was lowered to meet UC; not the other way around.</p>