So the suspense ends. Here are the 2005 rankings courtesy of U.S. News:

National Universities1.Harvard University
Princeton University

3.Yale University

4. University of Pennsylvania

5. Duke University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stanford University

8. California Institute of Technology

9. Columbia University
Dartmouth College

National Liberal Arts Colleges1. Williams College

2. Amherst College
Swarthmore College

4. Wellesley College

5. Carleton College
Pomona College

7. Bowdoin College
Davidson College

9. Haverford College
Wesleyan University

Speaking of liberal arts colleges, here's a piece discussing how presidents of 15 of them joined forces to renounce the U.S. News rankings. Some of them refused to participate in the survey. You'll see the usual carping: quality can't be quantified; rankings mislead students and parents; numbers can't capture the quality of classroom instruction; and reputation rankings favor the brand names.

New year, same complaints.