US News 2012 Top University Rankings released. UM #28
US news released their 2012 rankings this morning. Michigan is #4 public school and #28 overall. Northwestern tops the Big Ten (duh) at #12 overall. Wisconsin at# 42, Penn State and Illinois tie at #45, Ohio #55, Purdue #62, Minnesota #68, Iowa and State #71, IU #75, Nebraska... still looking.
EDIT: Nebraska is #101 (thanks bronxblue). I must have scrolled over that a few times because I really did not see them.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:46 PM ^
Here's the link:
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities
[edit * - oops, didn't see the "link" link in the OP...hard to see these links sometimes]
September 13th, 2011 at 12:45 PM ^
September 13th, 2011 at 12:51 PM ^
While I agree that they are very sbujective, the obsession with them comes from being able to digest information on a large number of schools. Mind you I'm not defending the rankings, but just seeing organized data makes people happy. Think of how often you see charts on MGoBlog.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:53 PM ^
In an ideal world rankings would be meaningless but lets not kid ourselves, its human nature to create pecking orders whether its sports, beauty contests, college rankings, scholastic achievement etc. Not to coin a cheesy song but ... Thats just the way it is, some things will never change.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:53 PM ^
They pretty much just confirm things that people already know. Michigan is a better school than MSU. Harvard is a better school than UNC. Once you get down to the actual rankings though its not too important, and I don't think most people think of it as that important. You won't see people saying michigan is way better than tufts becuase we're 28 and they are 29. (people may think we're a better school for other reasons but no one will bring a ranking into it like that)
September 13th, 2011 at 1:17 PM ^
I always treated the rankings are nothing more than general signposts, noting which schools were generally recognized in a field. I don't think UM is as "good" of a school overall as Harvard, but I wouldn't really try to parse down between UVa and UCLA, for example. I think it is just a by-product of the mind's desire to have heuristics that help to give order to what is otherwise a massive amount of subjective data.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:49 PM ^
I hate the fact that of the 27 schools in the Top 25, only three are public schools (Cal-Berkley, UCLA and Virginia) and none in the top 20.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:54 PM ^
They have public schools ranked as seven of their top ten
September 13th, 2011 at 1:45 PM ^
Rankings by BCS Conference.
TOP TOPS: PAC 12
This conference is loaded with top-ranking schools, but then lags with a lot of bottom-dwellers.
Stanford 5
Cal 21
USC 23
UCLA 25
Washington 42
Colorado 94
Oregon 101
Wash State 115
Arizona 124
Utah 124
Arizona State 132
Oregon State 138
ALMOST TOP TOPS: ACC
This conference is like the Pac12 with a bunch of top schools (just not quite as good as the Pac 12), but its bottom half is not as bad as the Pac12.
Duke 10
Virginia 25
Wake Forest 25
North Carolina 29
Boston College 31
Georgia Tech 36
Miami 38
Maryland 55
Clemson 68
Virginia Tech 71
Florida State 101
NC State 101
NOT AS TOP GOOD, NOT AS BOTTOM BAD: BIG TEN
We are sort of the every-guy's conference, with a bunch of above-average schools and only one in the triple digits.
Northwestern 12
Michigan 28
Wisconsin 42
Penn State 45
Illinois 45
Ohio State 55
Purdue 62
Minnesota 68
Michigan State 71
Iowa 71
Indiana 75
Nebraska 101
ODDLY NOT SUCKY: THE ESS EE SEE
Thought they'd have putrid rankings, but oddly, they aren't as bad overall as other conferences. Have one really quality school, but that's it. Half the conference is in the triple-digits, however.
Vanderbilt 17
Florida 58
Texas A&M 58
Georgia 62
Alabama 75
Auburn 82
Tennessee 101
South Carolina 111
Kentucky 124
LSU 128
Arkansas 132
Mississippi 143
Mississippi St. 157
ABOUT RIGHT: BIG XII
Mostly shitty schools. Just not the shittiest of the BCS conferences.
Texas 45
Baylor 75
Missouri 90
Iowa State 97
Kansas 101
Oklahoma 101
Oklahoma St. 132
Kansas State 143
Texas Tech 160
ODDLY SUCKIEST: BIG EAST
Thought they'd be better, but that's really due to the basketball-only schools (G'town, ND, etc.). On the football side, the highest-ranked are about middle of the others. Really bad bottom half, however.
Connecticut 58
Pittsburgh 58
Syracuse 62
Rutgers 68
TCU 97
Cincinnati 143
Louisville 164
West Virginia 164
South Florida 181
September 13th, 2011 at 1:51 PM ^
A&M vaults to the SEC's #2 spot (tied with Florida). But for A&M, their academic association goes UP too -- the Big XII is pretty putrid.
As to some rumored realignments...
If Oklahoma and Oklahoma State (and reportedly Texas Tech too) move to the Pac 12 ... that would PULL DOWN the Pac 12 quality. Three more double-digit schools, to join the party schools in Arizona etc.
Notre Dame would help the Big Ten (ND is 19), but Texas is middle of the pack for us. Pitt, Rutgers and Syracuse are all about the same with each other, as well as about half of our conference.
Missouri isn't as highly ranked as I'd thought; maybe it shows how bad the ranking are, but you're telling me, an Auburn degree is better than a Missouri degree? No way.
September 13th, 2011 at 1:56 PM ^
They have a pretty good reputation, and I thought they were right behind GT as one of the premier public engineering programs in the south.
September 13th, 2011 at 1:51 PM ^
But the ACC mirrors us pretty closely. If they were to form a Committee of Institutional Cooperation, would they still be worried by expansion?
September 13th, 2011 at 2:19 PM ^
serioulsy though, there are only 3 rankings with any merit, ARWU, QS, and Times-Higher. newsweek, us news, P-Review, ect, are all junk. In the ARWU ranking U of M is 22nd in the world, QS has U of M 14th in the world, and Times-Higher has U of M 15th. I have asked some professors about rankings and they told me that these 3 are considered the best of the best, so looks like U of M is a lot better than 28th in the US
edit: the fact that EMU isnt even listed in the tiers of nat'l universities, only in the regional breakdown, and then only 81st, makes me very sad even if I don't put much value into the US News list
September 13th, 2011 at 7:49 PM ^
I'm leery of the notion that you can evaluate universities on a worldwide scale. Educational systems can vary considerably from one country to the next. For example, in France the most prestigious academic outcome for a high school graduate isn't even to go to a university, but to a different kind of institution known as a grande école.
The reality is that whatever our "real" ranking might be, the U.S. News one is the only one the general public pays attention to.
September 13th, 2011 at 1:55 PM ^
September 13th, 2011 at 2:34 PM ^
I have a young relative who was denied admission to Michigan LSA and welcomed at Kalamazoo. It is a small, fine school.
Someone mentioned class size and student-teacher ratio. It is important to note that differents styles of learning (and certain academic disciplines) benefit from a more personal, smaller environment than others. Michigan is not perfect, but it's amaizing given its size and academic diversity it offers to its students. Seldom does anyone have to transfer to change majors because the new program is most likely available and highly ranked nationally.
As far as the number of PhD's, a MA, professional degree or PhD is more important to a liberal arts graduate than some of the other academic programs.
USC is not nearly so selective for undergraduates. They are most well known for their graduate programs.
Some years ago, I believe that the state legislature changed the out-of-state ratio students from 40% to about 30%. Whether valid or not, that changed the perception of how highly selective Michigan is. Regardless, the quality is indisputable!
September 13th, 2011 at 2:44 PM ^
These rankings always drive me up a wall. To the extent that you can evaluate individual programs, the number of programs at U of M that rank in the top 10, even by USNWR's own ranking system, is enormous. Our engineering school, where I would guess about 20 percent of the undergraduates attend, is always in the top 10. Ross, although much smaller, is always near the top. I know our class size is large and that we accept a large percentage of applicants, but when you get to U of M, the opportunites that exist simply are a pipe dream in all but the top national universities.
We have 200 majors, most of them excellent. Almost no one else even comes close.
September 13th, 2011 at 3:52 PM ^
justingoblue, are you going Navy OCS? If so, have fun! There are some great recruiters in Ann Arbor, they do a great work. I hope you were able to score BDCP or at least some free Blue Angel VIP tickets!
Also, Michigan's "profile" picture on the USNWR ranking sucks. That's how I chose my college...
September 13th, 2011 at 6:56 PM ^
the simple fact that it mentions we use trimesters when we don't makes this list bullshit
September 13th, 2011 at 10:18 PM ^
The academic year, for undergrad programs at least, is divided into the Fall trimester, Winter trimester, Spring half-trimester and Summer half-trimester. While the registrar's office refers to these periods as "semesters" and "half-semesters," in length, they are trimesters. This is why Michigan's winter break is atypically short compared to other universities and why the school year for those not taking Spring or Summer classes ends in April, as opposed to May. If you compare Michigan's academic calendar to say MSU's, you'll see the difference.
September 13th, 2011 at 8:56 PM ^
September 13th, 2011 at 10:14 PM ^
It surely is a great sign to see Michigan continually near the top of university rankings. The fact that Michigan is a public institution in a state with such a terrible economy the last few years only serves to further this accomplishment. I don't think it can be understated the difficulties the school has overcome to maintain this high level of education.
September 14th, 2011 at 12:52 AM ^
took me a while to find both ohio and syracuse. put a smile on my face
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