Texas A&M University at College Station and Atlanta Technical College are separated by 830 miles and 40,000 students. But both are at the head of their class in service to the country, according to The Washington Monthly’s newest college rankings, published online today.

The Washington Monthly says its rankings look not just at what colleges do for students, but also at what they give back to the United States. For the first time this year, the magazine ranked community colleges, in addition to national universities and liberal-arts colleges.

The magazine began the rankings in 2005 to provide an alternative to the popular U.S. News & World Report rankings, which Washington Monthly editors view as “silly.” But critics of the magazine’s rankings say that, in some areas, its methodology is silly, too.

In ranking community colleges, the magazine relied heavily on data from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement. But the director of that survey, Kay M. McClenney of the University of Texas at Austin, says any rankings based on the data are irresponsible. The vast differences among the survey participants in size, location, student population, and resources render any ranking meaningless, she says. The survey also includes less than half of the 1,200 community colleges in the United States.

Still, The Washington Monthly’s editors make clear that their rankings are not meant to harm, but to point out the good work of institutions that often get snubbed. For those who just can’t resist a peek, here are the rankings for national universities, liberal-arts colleges, and community colleges. —Elyse Ashburn