The methodology yields this ranking.
Top 20
1. Harvard
2. Columbia
3. MIT
3. Stanford
5. Duke
6. Yale
7. Caltech
8. Penn
9. Princeton
10. Cornell
11. Brown
11. UChicago
11. WashU
14. Rice
15. Northwestern
15. USC
17. Dartmouth
17. Johns Hopkins
19. Emory
20. Carnegie Mellon
top 5 LACs:
22. Williams
23. Amherst
26. Pomona
28. Wellesley
30. Swarthmore
top 5 public universities:
25. UCLA
27. UM Ann Arbor
33. UNC Chapel Hill
40. UC Berkeley
43. Purdue
USC is ranked appropriately as is UCLA. Keep in mind this is a ranking of the college. USC's students are really good. They are extroverts, articulate and "fast on their feet". UCLA featured many more students who crammed for exams and excelled at this "ancient art" but lacked creativity and versatility.