2023 has the best group of academic schools in CFP ever?

Submitted by mgoblue_in_bay on January 3rd, 2024 at 6:57 PM

Obviously I'm super biased on this, but is this year's CFP the best set of 4 academic schools ever?

Thought crossed my mind while thinking about how Michigan vs Washington is an amazing set of academic schools, but then realized Texas is too.  I had to look up Alabama and they're not great.

Quick comparison using US news rankings (yes they may be bad but they're easy to use) has Alabama at 170, and for comparing to other years LSU=185, Oklahoma=124, TCU=98, Clemson=86, Georgia=47, Ohio State=43, and Notre Dame=20

This year, Michigan=21, Texas=32, Washington=40.  Repeat participants makes this an easier comparison.

Just thought it was interesting.  Go nerds!

 

Football

soniktoothe

January 3rd, 2024 at 7:18 PM ^

Disclaimer: I am not a University of Michigan grad, I simply hold on to my home state and it's greatest university as a connection to where I grew up. 

US News rankings are flawed and somewhat divisive. They have come under the microscope over the last decade or two for its influence vs. it's factual accuracy. 

Michigan is widely known as one of the best universities in the country and I don't doubt that the other two of the four are excellent as well. 

I find the research here to be fairly compelling, but there are other sources that agree, along with multiple educational institutions who have decided to decline submitting their statistics over recent years.

Joined: 08/27/2013

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Commie_High96

January 3rd, 2024 at 11:03 PM ^

I also find US news hilariously flawed because the put the US service academies in the liberal arts college rankings. I know that Navy and USMA are tremendous educational institutions, but they are most assuredly not liberal arts colleges. The academies are strongly bent toward engineering with is kind of the opposite thing from liberal arts.

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TESOE

January 3rd, 2024 at 7:37 PM ^

I'm getting this year as 21st best using the latest U.S. News rankings (which are BS and disturbingly different than yours - but I don't think this is worth vetting at this point - rankings mean little in academics.)

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TESOE

January 3rd, 2024 at 7:50 PM ^

Yeah... the data doesn't look right but not worth more work.  I had Bard pull it and Chat GPT verify and analyze it.  Then I formatted in Open Calc and printed as a jpg. Academics ratings aren't useful but some schools that people scoff at ... they really shouldn't. True dat... if not true data.

Good enough for a ballpark.

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simonsays

January 3rd, 2024 at 8:10 PM ^

These data are nowhere close to the US News rankings? LSU is 185 (https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/louisiana-state-university-baton-rouge-2010), not 8. 

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc


Here's the full list of teams that appear in your table, with their 2024 US News ranking.

UCLA 15
Notre Dame 20
Michigan 21
UF 28
USC 28
Texas 32
Washington 40
OSU 43
Va Tech 47
UGA 47
FSU 53
MSU 60
Miami FL 67
Clemson 86
Auburn 93
TCU 98
Oregon 98
Tennessee 105
Utah 115
Oklahoma 124
Cincinnati 142
Nebraska 159
Alabama 170
Arkansas 178
LSU  185
Boise State 332

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TESOE

January 3rd, 2024 at 9:01 PM ^

This is good... BARD can't seem to pull the data... maybe it is protected.  It self-reported issues as well, admitting that there were issues. 

I re-crunched this with your data here... and there are still disturbing issues...like I sad before not worth vetting.  But you did work here and I appreciate that.  

Academic ratings don't mean much when some schools struggle to offer classes that athletes need.

Now 2024 is sitting at #5...hmm... the GPT analysis engine is off as well... this isn't worth vetting/re-doing... but interesting. I have done similar pulls and this is better than it used to be.

2024 is not the best year.

 

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MGoPoints: 8494

TESOE

January 3rd, 2024 at 8:38 PM ^

Agree, as I said, the data is disturbingly questionable... that is kind of the point though. Rankings don't mean much.  I'd vet it... but does it really matter?

No. Not worth it.

Nebraska is probably the worst B1G school, yet they lead the conference in Academic All-Americans.  It's not where you go.

https://huskers.com/news/2023/12/6/nebraska-athletics-excels-in-graduation-success-rate

Interestingly, I tried to point this out to BARD and it was not able to correct it even after it admitted it was wrong.  A couple other AIs pointed this out as well.  Meh... 

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SBayBlue

January 3rd, 2024 at 8:52 PM ^

Actually, Alabama is pulling in a lot of smart kids these days, especially in their honors college. 

Don't use US News as a gauge. It's biased, and quite honestly, sucks, with questions like "How would you rate your peer colleges and universities?" and other cooked data.

https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2023/10/09/why-new-us-news-rankings-are-flawed-opinion#:~:text=All%20college%20rankings%20are%20problematic,participating%20in%20the%20process%20altogether.

While I think the OP has a good take, last year's CFP had us, TCU, Georgia and Ohio State, all schools with good reputations. (but not one of their fanbases)

 

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M-Dog

January 5th, 2024 at 12:49 PM ^

Yep.  My daughter would get to go for free if she applied.  

They are buying the smart middle class kids that are getting pushed out of the Ivy's and near-Ivy's, which now only accept very wealthy or very poor kids.

Roll Tide jokes and all, but good on them for hustling while the top schools sit on their laurels.

 

 

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Blue in St Lou

January 4th, 2024 at 8:53 AM ^

I respectfully disagree regarding the peer rating question you mention. My knowledge goes back to when my daughters were applying to college. That question was the basis for the academic reputation category, which accounted for 20-25% of the overall score, which I thought was much more significant than other categories, such as alumni giving. If the question is what your degree is worth, you'd want to know how it's regarded by other academics, wouldn't you?

And, no surprise, Michigan did much better in academic reputation than its overall ranking. (So did other good state schools.) Michigan's peers -- the ones who will be deciding whether to admit you to graduate or professional schools -- recognize the value of a Michigan education. 

 

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