<p>Small fluctuations in the rankings don’t matter at all - except to sell more magazines. The difference between 6 and 10 is negligible and any school in the top 15 is doing great. Is Duke really any worse than it was in 2003 when it tied with Yale for third? No. Just US News changing their calculation method and/or extremely small differences in input data.</p>
<p>I completely agree with bluedog. Differences between 6 and 10 are negligible, and imo, the difference between 5 and 6 or 4 and 6 is only the ability to say “I go to a top 5 school.” I don’t think Duke was top 3 in '03 though, only because that’s when I was researching/touring/applying to schools and I remember using the “Duke’s a top 5” phrase but never “Duke’s a top 3.” haha I could be wrong, I casually look at the list when it’s on the news, but never really bought much into it. It’s really a load, and I personally feel so many factors go into this ranking that really don’t truly (and significantly) impact the education one receives there – at least in the top schools (whether one wants to only look at top 10, or top 15 or 20)</p>