(Source: Colby College)Another week, another college rankings guide. This time it's Washington Monthly, which just released its first rankings issue, obviously timed to contrast with U.S. News' annual beauty contest. The magazine has taken a page from JFK, asking not what universities can do for you but what they can do for their country. Witness:



The first question we asked was, what does America need from its universities? From this starting point, we came up with three central criteria: Universities should be engines of social mobility, they should produce the academic minds and scientific research that advance knowledge and drive economic growth; and they should inculcate and encourage an ethic of service. We designed our evaluation system accordingly.More specifically, the magazine measured community service, research and social mobility to arrive at its results, though the editors admit many data weren't readily available. (You can read more about their methodology here.)

So what were the top ten universities and liberal arts colleges? Have a look:

National Universities1. MIT
2. UCLA
3. California-Berkeley
4. Cornell
5. Stanford
6. Penn State
7. Texas A&M
8. UC-San Diego
9. Pennsylvania
10. Michigan

Liberal Arts Colleges1. Wellesley
2. Wesleyan
3. Bryn Mawr
4. Harvey Mudd
5. Fisk
6. Amherst
7. Haverford
8. Wofford
9. Colby
10. Spelman

Reference my U.S. News rankings below to see obvious differences between the lists. For national universities, Princeton ties for first in U.S. News, while it doesn't appear in the top ten here. It actually ranks 44th. First-place Williams ranks 14th in this list of liberal arts colleges.

Will anyone care? Perhaps leaders of those institutions which don't fare well in U.S. News will find something to trumpet in these revamped rankings.