Michigan rises to #25 in USNews rankings
The 2020 US News and World Report rankings of American universities came out today, and Michigan ranked 25th, the highest I can ever remember seeing, and 3rd among public universities behind UC Berkeley and UCLA. For context, that is a tie with Carnegie Mellon, #24 is Georgetown, and UM is followed by #27 Wake Forest and #28 UVA.
These rankings have their critics, but they are a major focus point for recruitment purposes - so take them for what you will...
SOURCE: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities
September 9th, 2019 at 1:23 PM ^
DID THEY EVEN WATCH THE GAME ON SATURDAY? NO WAY THIS TEAM SHOULD BE RANKED
September 9th, 2019 at 3:53 PM ^
#25 is probably higher than we deserve to be in football. Hooray to playing school!
September 9th, 2019 at 1:24 PM ^
This is a "rise"? I guess I've been out of the university rankings circuit for a while cause back when I was there we were always top 10.
WTF happened in 1988?
September 9th, 2019 at 1:26 PM ^
Pretty clear they changed how they rank the schools because Cal had a similar drop the same year
September 9th, 2019 at 1:29 PM ^
I was just going to reply the same thing. Formula change.
Some of these rankings' criteria have some elements that favor private schools (like class size, student to faculty ratio, and retention for example).
September 9th, 2019 at 2:48 PM ^
This. And a big one they started to include was acceptance rate. Large public schools tend to have higher acceptance rates than small private ones.
September 9th, 2019 at 3:28 PM ^
I forgot where I read it but they had some interview with a former USNWR writer on the rankings side and he explicitly said the system is designed to favor smaller, private colleges in myriad of ways and that's why when you see all these other rankings that take more holistic views a lot of the schools outside the top 10 or so jump around. He also noted that USNWR is basically only know for this ranking anymore and so they'll mess around with it every so often to jumble up the results a bit to appear fresh and drive interest. I still remember my senior HS year Cal Tech was ranked #1 and then I think Harvard or Princeton were next. It just felt random.
September 9th, 2019 at 1:31 PM ^
I worry (to the extent that I worry at all) less about where we are overall versus where we are with the other public schools. Ahead of UVA is great. Behind UCLA? Boo.
September 9th, 2019 at 2:14 PM ^
I think Crazy Jim's changed ownership that year.
September 9th, 2019 at 2:17 PM ^
"WTF happened" is that US News & World Report realized that University of Michigan graduates incorrectly use the word 'cause' as a (poor) substitute for a short form of the word 'because', and dropped the school rank accordingly.
September 9th, 2019 at 4:40 PM ^
logged in to upvote this.
September 9th, 2019 at 1:32 PM ^
UCLA being the top public school is a surprise. It's usually Berkeley or Virginia.
September 9th, 2019 at 1:48 PM ^
I don't recall UM ever being below UVA
September 9th, 2019 at 1:54 PM ^
Me either. Also, fuck UVA. Their medical center is intentionally bankrupting low and middle income patients. Story in the WaPo today.
September 9th, 2019 at 4:33 PM ^
Have you read about UChicago and the surrounding Hyde Park residents?
September 9th, 2019 at 7:34 PM ^
That’s pretty much the medical industry in general that tries to bankrupt people. And UM Medicine is no different. My wife was recently charged $50 for a pregnancy test through UofM.
September 9th, 2019 at 1:54 PM ^
UVA is often ahead of UM. Look at the link Mgrowold provided.
September 9th, 2019 at 1:55 PM ^
Perhaps I’m thinking about law school rankings.
September 9th, 2019 at 1:41 PM ^
My god. Kansas State has a 94% acceptance rate.
September 9th, 2019 at 4:40 PM ^
They also cater to and recruit a very different demographic. Last time I did work with them about 4-5 years ago, a big focus in student recruitment was the lower income Latino and otherwise rural population in central and west Kansas into primarily their agricultural programs. The quality of secondary school education in those parts do not align to what a UM-type institution is looking for.
Also keep in mind that Kansas is practically broke as a state, so their universities will literally take just about anyone they can get. Along with KSU's 95% acceptance rate, KU is at 92%. Wichita State is the most selective school in the system at 75%.
September 10th, 2019 at 7:47 AM ^
I'll never forget superstar PG recruit Jacque Vaughn choosing KU over U-M "for the academics."
September 9th, 2019 at 1:49 PM ^
The interesting thing is that UM is almost always higher in world rankings than it is in US rankings. Generally world rankings give UM a top 20 spot.
September 9th, 2019 at 1:56 PM ^
Yep. US News rankings are crap. My kid just did junior year abroad at Oxford and everyone there considered Michigan to be in the same class. Given how snobby the English are in general, and at Oxford in particular, that seemed like high praise.
September 9th, 2019 at 2:15 PM ^
They are not ones to praise without reason.
September 9th, 2019 at 2:27 PM ^
...except themselves.
September 9th, 2019 at 1:57 PM ^
I think the sweet spot is in the middle. I think the world rankings often look more favorably on Michigan due to its graduate programs that bring in research dollars and citations (like the medical and engineering schools).
September 9th, 2019 at 5:32 PM ^
Here's the difference - the USNWR rankings rank based on undergrad only, which is why a school like ND is ahead of us and why Princeton is #1. The world rankings always take grad school into account as well, boosting us higher based on extremely highly rated grad programs.
September 9th, 2019 at 1:56 PM ^
No way Harvard should be so high on the list. They have become a joke.
September 9th, 2019 at 3:28 PM ^
Go on.
September 9th, 2019 at 2:30 PM ^
I went to Michigan so a high ranking makes me feel slightly - and smugly - superior to anyone below us. But let's be real: you can still have a happy, successful life if you don't go to one of the top 25 (or the top 50 or 100). In a lot of ways, these rankings have contributed to the insanely intense college application process. I have a kid in college and a junior in high school, and I will not talk to other parents about college because they're all F-ING INSANE and they're making their kids insane, too. These are 16 and 17 year old's.
OK, stepping down from the soapbox now.
September 9th, 2019 at 3:39 PM ^
+1.
I went through it a few years ago. I honestly wish they would get rid of the common application. Kids are using the shotgun approach to applying to schools that they have no intention of going to. It's no coincidence that acceptance rates (for top schools) cratered after the common app.
September 9th, 2019 at 3:40 PM ^
Tried to look for OSU, but got bored after scrolling past 50 schools
September 9th, 2019 at 8:49 PM ^
54. I was surprised after all the cooler pooper talk, Ohio state has a perfectly fine academic reputation. It’s as though fandom distorts things sometimes.
September 10th, 2019 at 7:55 AM ^
They have made impressive strides in their academic standing over the last 20-30 years.
I went to a college prep high school on the Detroit area, and the only person in any of the classes around mine who went to OSU was a space cadet girl who rocked a 19 on the ACT circa 1989. Everyone pointed and laughed at OSU.
They have come a long way, no doubt about it.
September 9th, 2019 at 3:53 PM ^
Highest? They were top 20 or so back when I was looking at schools. It's been a while (not going to datemyself that much), but when did they fall OUT of the top 25?
September 9th, 2019 at 4:02 PM ^
Perhaps you missed it because you didn't look under THE Ohio State University......
September 9th, 2019 at 9:12 PM ^
ND and Vandy at 15 is what you get when your extremely basic methodology involves class size, sat/act scores, and graduation rates. Just find some vanilla school for mostly rich kids where nobody is going to leave early to be an entrepreneur and nobody actually wants to learn how to learn for themselves. I had 4 of my closer friends at Michigan leave early (without graduating, gasp!) to do tech startup stuff. They are... much better off than us sorry lot of graduates. You get that at a school like Michigan where traditional boundaries are questioned. You also get more of a focus on research, learning how to find things out on your own, and developing intelligent thought than you do on small class size (as if college students cannot learn for themselves so a smaller class size is what is crucial!!!) I would hire Michigan graduates over many of the schools above them on that list, any day of the week.
September 9th, 2019 at 10:06 PM ^
Michigan two spots above Wake Forest is silly. The two universities are not even comparable.