For three years straight, Tamil Nadu has been the state with the most number of top colleges in the country. This year, the same number of colleges got into the list but a number of the colleges that figured in the list last year have found no space this time around. Several colleges have also fallen drastically on the list this year.

Chennai's famed Loyola slipped from number two to six this year but the controversial Presidency College managed to bag the fifth place even though they didn't figure in last year's list. Bishop Heber College managed to go one place up to number three. Another popular institute, Women's Christian College surprisingly dropped 12 places to number 22 this year while Ethiraj dropped 22 places to number 38.

Coimbatore's Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science went from 39 to 68 but the city's Sri Krishna Arts and Science College and Kongunadu Arts and Science College jumped up 29 places and 22 places respectively. Dr NGP Arts and Science College also made a significant jump from 91 to 44.

Madurai's Fatima College slipped from 27 to 65 and Tiruchirapalli's Holy Cross College got a double demotion- they dropped from 42 to 26. Virudhnagar's V V Vanniaperumal College also fell from 38 to 85 this year.

Surprisingly, many of the colleges in the 2017 list don't even figure in this year's list including Meenakshi College, Chennai. Hindustan College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore and SRM College of Arts and Science, Potheri.

One of the main reasons why a lot of the colleges have dropped places this year could be that many famous colleges didn't participate in last year's survey. It is a surprise to see that colleges like Stella Maris College for Women which came in at 30 and Madurai's The American College didn't apply last year. Other new entrants this year are Chennai's Madras School of Social Work and Queen Mary's College.