Newsweek magazine's listing of the nation's "hottest" colleges and universities has placed Cornell at the top of the heap in the Ivy League.

Newsweek's "25 Hottest Schools," a new ranking this year, appears in the newsmagazine's Aug. 27 issue and in the annual "Newsweek-Kaplan College Guide" (264 pages, $9.95), which goes on sale Aug. 20.

The Newsweek article (accompanied by a photo showing three students in Cornell's A.D. White Library) describes the list as diverging from more traditional school rankings. Instead of a numerical ranking, the magazine created a more subjective "quick but colorful snapshot of today's most interesting schools" by speaking to admissions officers, consultants, students and parents. Particular stock was taken in the opinions of high school counselors, the article stated.

Newsweek notes Cornell's land-grant status, which, the magazine says, emphasizes "problem-solving as well as scholarly debate."

The article also cites the quality of Cornell's College of Engineering as well as liberal arts, science and fine arts offerings, and calls the Hotel School "the world's best." The magazine cites President David Skorton as an example of "variety on campus," pointing to his background as a cardiologist, jazz musician and computer scientist who was the first in his family to obtain a college education.

Skorton is also mentioned in another story in the Newsweek issue on the greening of college campuses. The article notes that Cornell was among the 284 schools that, earlier this year, pledged to take steps toward becoming carbon-neutral in the near future.

The article quotes Skorton: "We're saying that sustainability is no longer an elective."