Harvard and Princeton Universities have shared the top spot in U.S. News and World Report's annual college rankings for the year 2013 released early Wednesday.

The schools are immediately followed by fellow Ivy League school, Yale in the third place a reproduction of the 2011 rankings. The fourth position has been tied between Columbia and University of Chicago.

MIT, which was ranked as the top university globally by QS World University Rankings has to be satisfied with sixth position shared with Stanford.

Among the national liberal arts colleges, the ranking from the previous year remains unchanged with Williams College leading, followed by Amherst College and Swarthmore College.

The national list though dominated by private universities, University of California- Berkeley is has managed to secure 21st place, tied with Georgetown University.

But, in the list of top public universities of the country, UC-Berkley leads the way, followed by University of California- Los Angeles and University of Virginia.

The ranking also includes other lists such as top regional universities, top regional colleges, top graduate schools, top undergraduate engineering programs among others.

One of the prestigious rankings in the nation since 1983, USN & WR rankings are based on the data collected from each educational institution, either from an annual survey sent to each school, or from the information hosted on school's website. Additionally, opinion surveys of university faculties and administrators who do not belong to the schools are also considered.

It is widely referred by students and parents, with every rise in the rank of a school resulting in a 0.9 per cent rise in its application rate.

Top national universities 2013

#1 Harvard University

#1 Princeton University

#3 Yale University

#4 Columbia University

#4 University of Chicago

#6 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

#6 Stanford University

#8 Duke University

#8 University of Pennsylvania

#10 California Institute of Technology

Top public universities 2013

#1 University of California-Berkeley

#2 University of California-Los Angeles

#3 University of Virginia

#4 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

#5 University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill

#6 College of William and Mary

#7 Georgia Institute of Technology

#8 University of California Davis

#8 University of California San Diego

#10 University of California- Santa Barbara

For complete list- https://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities