SMU gained one spot from 71 to 70 in the latest U.S. News & World Report college rankings. SMU had been ranked 71 in 2004 and 2005. SMU officials declined to comment.

Princeton takes the top spot, breaking a three-year tie for No. 1 with Ivy League rival, Harvard. It was the seventh straight year Princeton had been at least tied for the top ranking.

“If schools move up a couple points, down a couple points, that’s not really meaningful to us,” said executive editor Brian Kelly. “The difference between 1 and 10 is minuscule. Whether that’s minuscule or not to a reader is up to them.”

Yale again took the No. 3 spot in the controversial but closely watched rankings, followed by the California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford — all tied for fourth. The University of Pennsylvania drops from fourth to seventh, and Duke from fifth to eighth.

The Cox Business School dropped in the business rankings from No. 35 to 37.

The guide to “America’s Best Colleges,” hitting newsstands Monday, again names Williams the top liberal arts college. The University of California, Berkeley, is the top-rated public university, tied for No. 21 overall.

The formula for the rankings includes variables such as graduation and retention rates, faculty and financial resources, and the percentage of alumni donating money to their alma mater. The biggest single variable is a reputation assessment by peer institutions.

-The Associated Press contributed to this article.